SR&ED for clinical research
SR&ED for clinical trials starts with the experimental work inside the protocol.
A clinical trial can mix eligible experimentation with routine recruitment, visits, monitoring, and data collection. The claim should isolate the scientific or technological uncertainty, the work performed to resolve it, the proper claimant, and the related costs.
Look inside the protocol. The whole trial rarely belongs in the claim.
Recruitment, consent, routine visits, standard assays, and ordinary data collection do not become SR&ED just because they support a study. The eligible work begins where the team faces a scientific or technological uncertainty and tests a way to resolve it.
That problem may appear in the intervention, sampling method, imaging protocol, analytical pipeline, endpoint measurement, or another part of the research method. The claim should follow that problem and include only the work and costs tied to it.
Where eligibility may appear
Four moments worth pulling out of the trial record
A method did not perform as expected
An assay, device, protocol, sample matrix, or analysis failed in a way standard practice could not readily explain or fix.
The team tested a technical response
A protocol change or new approach was designed to resolve the uncertainty, then evaluated through observation or analysis.
The result changed the next attempt
The team used what it learned to revise the method, narrow the explanation, or decide which approach to test next.
The evidence is dated
Protocol versions, deviation records, lab notes, analysis plans, datasets, meeting notes, and emails show the work as it happened.
Keep the unresolved research problem at the centre.
A careful boundary protects the claim from being diluted by the much larger volume of routine trial activity around it.
Work to examine
- Experiments or analyses aimed at resolving a scientific or technological uncertainty
- Protocol or method development that formed part of the systematic investigation
- Direct support work that is commensurate with the eligible experimental work
- Eligible salary, consumed materials, and qualifying arm's-length contracts
Work to keep outside the claim
- Routine recruitment, consent, visits, monitoring, and standard data collection
- Work performed only to satisfy an established regulatory or ethics process
- Ordinary statistical analysis using known methods with no technical uncertainty
- The full trial budget when only a defined part of the work meets the SR&ED tests
FAQ
Clinical trial SR&ED questions
Can clinical trial work qualify for SR&ED?
Yes, when defined work inside the trial seeks a scientific or technological advancement through experiment or analysis. The trial label, ethics approval, or publication plan does not make the full study eligible.
Does the full clinical trial budget qualify?
Usually not. Routine recruitment, consent, monitoring, visits, standard testing, and ordinary data collection should remain outside the claim unless they directly support and are commensurate with the eligible experimental work.
Who claims SR&ED in a multi-party clinical trial?
The answer depends on who directly undertook the eligible work, who paid the expenditures, and whether the work was performed for another party. Sponsor, site, investigator, hospital, university, and corporate agreements need to be reviewed together.
What clinical trial records can support a claim?
Useful records can include protocol versions, deviation reports, statistical analysis plans, lab notebooks, assay or imaging results, datasets, meeting notes, contracts, time records, invoices, and proof of payment.
Can grant-funded clinical research still qualify?
It may still qualify, but government or non-government assistance can reduce the expenditures or investment tax credit base. The funding agreement and the costs paid by the claimant should be reviewed before calculating the claim.
Related medical SR&ED guidance
Official sources
Program guidance reviewed August 1, 2026.
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