AACT Clinical Trials MCP server

The AACT Clinical Trials MCP Server provides AI assistants with direct access to the ClinicalTrials.gov database through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This implementation allows for querying and analyzing clinical trial data using a structured interface that follows the MCP specification.

Installation Requirements

To use the AACT Clinical Trials MCP Server, you need to set up the following environment variables:

• DB_USER: Your AACT database username
• DB_PASSWORD: Your AACT database password

These credentials are required to connect to the AACT database.

Setting Up with Semantic Kernel

You can integrate the AACT Clinical Trials MCP Server with Semantic Kernel using the following Python code:

from semantic_kernel import Kernel
from semantic_kernel.connectors.mcp import MCPStdioPlugin

# Create an AACT Clinical Trials MCP plugin
aact_mcp = MCPStdioPlugin(
    name="aact",
    description="Clinical Trials Database Plugin",
    command="uvx",
    args=["mcp-server-aact"],
    env={
        "DB_USER": "your_aact_username", 
        "DB_PASSWORD": "your_aact_password"
    }
)

# Add to Semantic Kernel
kernel = Kernel()
kernel.add_plugin(aact_mcp)

Available Tools

The server provides several tools for interacting with the AACT database:

List Tables

Get an overview of all available tables in the AACT database:

list_tables

This tool is useful for understanding the database structure before conducting analysis.

Describe Table

Examine the detailed structure of a specific AACT table:

{"table_name": "studies"}

This tool shows column names and data types for the specified table.

Read Query

Execute a SELECT query on the AACT clinical trials database:

{"query": "SELECT nct_id, brief_title FROM ctgov.studies LIMIT 5"}

The tool safely handles SQL queries with validation.

Append Insight

Record key findings and insights discovered during analysis:

{"finding": "Phase 3 oncology trials have increased by 15% over the last 5 years"}

This helps build an analytical narrative during your session.

Available Resources

The server also provides access to these resources:

• schema://database - Returns the database schema as a JSON resource
• memo://insights - Returns a formatted memo of insights collected during the session

Example Use Cases

Here are some example prompts to use with this plugin:

• "What are the most common types of interventions in breast cancer clinical trials?"
• "How many phase 3 clinical trials were completed in 2023?"
• "Show me the enrollment statistics for diabetes trials across different countries"
• "What percentage of oncology trials have reported results in the last 5 years?"

How to add this MCP server to Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "cursor-rules-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "cursor-rules-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.