These are the 20 centres running the most active industry-sponsored clinical trials in Brazil right now — the core infrastructure your protocol will be deciding among. The counts below differ substantially from the ones we published for Q2, and the reason is worth reading before the list.
Why these numbers changed — and why they're higher
Brazilian site names arrive in ClinicalTrials.gov in many spellings. A single hospital can appear as Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, … (HCPA) - PPDS, … /ID# 243657 and … ( Site 1265) — all the same institution, all counted separately by a naive aggregation. Our earlier ranking folded case and accents but not those registry suffixes, so it split centres across as many as 46 name variants and understated every one of them.
This edition consolidates variants to a single centre before counting, and does it disambiguated by city — because the opposite error is just as easy: a loose name match happily merges Centro de Pesquisa Clínica Sao Lucas in Campinas into Hospital São Lucas da PUCRS in Porto Alegre, two unrelated institutions about 800 km apart. Requiring the city to match prevents that.
The effect is largest where sponsors are least consistent. FAMERP's system appeared under 46 distinct names and now counts 93 trials; Barretos, under 39 names, counts 67. Our Q2 edition listed the FAMERP Foundation and its principal clinical site, the Hospital de Base, as two separate entries — noting at the time that they were the same system split by naming variance. They are now counted as one, which is what they always were.
Two methodology notes, stated plainly
The unit is unique trials, not site records. A centre's number is the count of active industry-sponsored trials with at least one site there. A trial listing the same centre twice counts once.
133 trials can't be attributed to any named centre. They report their Brazilian sites under sponsor-blinded placeholders — "Investigational Site", "GSK Investigational Site" and the like. That's 23% of the market, and it means any public-data ranking of Brazilian sites, including this one, undercounts real activity. A centre listed here at 40 trials may well be running 45–50 once blinded sites are distributed back. We exclude that bucket from the ranking rather than letting it sit at the top as though it were an institution — which is exactly what it did in our previous edition.
The top 20 — active industry trials by named facility, Q3 2026
FAMERP / Hospital de Base — São José do Rio Preto
High-volume teaching-hospital system in the São Paulo state interior, and — once its site names are consolidated — the largest single-centre industry-trial footprint in Brazil. Cardiovascular, metabolic, oncology and rare-disease programmes all run here at meaningful volume. The Hospital de Base is the principal clinical site within the FAMERP system; sponsors register it under both names, which is why earlier public rankings split this centre in two and understated it.
Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA)
Federal teaching hospital affiliated with UFRGS, and the most broadly-utilised trial site in the country: oncology, haematology, neurology, rare disease, IBD, rheumatology, endocrinology and paediatric genetics. If your protocol fits any mainstream or rare-disease indication, HCPA is usually the first site on the list.
Hospital de Câncer de Barretos (Fundação Pio XII)
One of the largest cancer-dedicated hospitals in Latin America, treating tens of thousands of new cases a year from across Brazil's interior. Deep solid-tumour and haematologic-oncology trial presence, and a recruitment anchor for any multinational oncology programme targeting Brazil. Appears in the registry under Pio XII, Hospital de Câncer and Hospital de Amor — all the same institution.
Liga Norte Riograndense Contra o Câncer
Regional cancer-reference centre for the Brazilian northeast and the largest single-facility oncology trial footprint outside São Paulo and Porto Alegre. Its aggregation of patients across RN, PB, CE and PE makes it a genuine recruitment anchor rather than a geographic add-on.
Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Porto Alegre
Historic teaching hospital — the oldest in Rio Grande do Sul — with strong cardiovascular, pulmonary and oncology research programmes. Frequently listed as a parallel site on Rio Grande do Sul Phase 3 activations.
Hospital São Lucas da PUCRS
PUCRS-affiliated private-academic hospital with broad coverage across neurology (MS, migraine), IBD, dermatology, rare disease and metabolic. Commonly paired with HCPA for Porto Alegre-region Phase 3 activations.
Hospital Moinhos de Vento
Private-sector academic hospital with a robust clinical-research institute; neuroimaging, hepatology, cardiology and haematology are particular strengths. Often paired with HCPA on the same protocol — HCPA for SUS-patient reach, Moinhos for parallel activation speed.
Hospital das Clínicas da FMUSP
The University of São Paulo's teaching-hospital complex and the largest in Latin America. A default inclusion for multinational protocols needing São Paulo academic depth across virtually every therapeutic area. Registry naming is unusually varied here, which had scattered its true volume.
Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein
Premier private hospital in São Paulo with a substantial research institute. Fast activation, strong investigator bench, and private-insurance patient populations that complement SUS-integrated academic sites.
Hospital Erasto Gaertner
Paraná's principal cancer-reference hospital, anchoring the oncology share of Brazil's fifth-largest trial metro. Strong solid-tumour and haematologic-oncology presence.
Hospital Alemão Oswaldo Cruz
Private-academic hybrid in central São Paulo, active across oncology, IBD, rheumatology, hepatology and neurology, with historical participation in multinational programmes from Janssen, AbbVie, Takeda and Roche.
Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição
Federal public hospital complex (Grupo Hospitalar Conceição) adding SUS-integrated patient reach to the Porto Alegre cluster; strong cardiology and pulmonology programmes.
Hospital Sírio-Libanês
Premier private hospital with strong oncology, haematology, neurology and hepatology research units, and a reputation for fast activation. Particularly active in oncology and neuro-oncology multinationals.
CEPIC — Centro Paulista de Investigação Clínica
Dedicated clinical-research centre with a deep track record in metabolic, cardiology, rheumatology and dermatology. The private-research-centre model: smaller than an academic hospital, but focused, fast-moving and well known to the major CROs.
Icesp — Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo
The largest public cancer centre in Latin America, linked to the USP medical complex. High-volume solid-tumour recruitment through the SUS pathway.
Ruschel Medicina e Pesquisa Clínica
Private clinical-research organisation running multi-site protocols across metabolic, cardiology, rheumatology and dermatology — dedicated trial staff, streamlined contracting, high responsiveness on activation.
Instituto Nacional de Câncer (INCA)
Brazil's national cancer institute and the reference centre for federal oncology policy. Anchors Rio de Janeiro's oncology trial share.
Integral Pesquisa e Ensino
Specialised clinical-research centre in the São Paulo interior focused on dermatology, allergy/immunology and selected metabolic programmes — the private-research-centre model, with the investigator bench and recruitment channels to deliver enrolment.
CEDOES
Private clinical-research centre serving Espírito Santo and the surrounding region across metabolic, cardiology and dermatology. One of the largest research operations outside the São Paulo / Porto Alegre / Curitiba axis.
IBCC — Núcleo de Pesquisa e Ensino
The Instituto Brasileiro de Controle do Câncer's research arm, adding further São Paulo oncology capacity with an established trials operation.
What the ranking reveals
The interior outperforms its reputation. The two largest single-centre footprints in the country — FAMERP in São José do Rio Preto and Barretos — are both in the São Paulo state interior, not the capital. Add Liga Norte Riograndense in Natal at 62, and three of Brazil's four biggest trial centres sit outside the São Paulo and Porto Alegre metros entirely. Sponsors who equate "Brazil" with "São Paulo" are skipping the highest-volume sites in the country.
Porto Alegre remains the densest cluster. Rio Grande do Sul holds four centres in the top twelve — HCPA (79), Santa Casa (57), São Lucas (54) and Moinhos de Vento (48), with Nossa Senhora da Conceição at 23. No other metro concentrates that much trial-ready capacity within one city, which is why Porto Alegre activations so often use two or three sites in parallel.
Oncology reference centres carry disproportionate weight. Barretos, Liga Norte Riograndense, Erasto Gaertner, Icesp, INCA and IBCC are all cancer-dedicated. That reflects oncology's 41% share of Brazil's trial footprint, and it means an oncology programme has genuinely national geographic options — the northeast, the interior, Curitiba, Rio — rather than a single-metro dependency.
Private research centres are a real tier, not a footnote. CEPIC, Ruschel, Integral and CEDOES aren't full-service hospitals, but they carry dedicated trial staff, streamlined contracting and fast activation. On mid-size Phase 2/3 protocols where throughput matters more than academic prestige, they frequently outperform the marquee names on enrolment per month.
What a ranking can't tell you
Trial count is capacity, not availability. A centre running 79 active studies has depth and GCP maturity — and a competing-trial load that may collide with your protocol. The site that matters for your programme is the one with the right investigator, the right patient pathway, and room in the queue for your indication. That's a protocol-specific question, and it's the first thing we work out with sponsors.
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