# Rescue the biological samples from failed trials for biomarker research

Source: https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-failed-trial-biobank/  
OnCo record `idea-tr2-failed-trial-biobank` (Idea). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Trials that fail still collected thousands of blood and tissue samples. Instead of being destroyed, they should be pooled so scientists can learn who might have benefited.

## Summary

Negative trials are often the most informative for biomarker discovery: a subgroup may have responded. Samples from discontinued programmes are usually destroyed or locked. A biobank with pre-negotiated transfer terms, linked de-identified clinical data, and an access committee would allow prospective-retrospective biomarker studies and could resurrect drugs for a biomarker-defined population.

## Fields

- Kind: Idea
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Hypothesis: At least two drugs from failed trials in the biobank will produce a validated predictive biomarker leading to a new enrichment trial within five years.
- Rationale: Cetuximab in KRAS wild-type colorectal cancer and gefitinib in EGFR-mutant lung cancer were rescued retrospectively from broadly negative or marginal populations. Systematising sample rescue would make such rescues routine.
- Proposed test: Secure samples from five recently failed phase 3 oncology trials; fund two biomarker discovery studies; report time to access and findings.
- Maturity: early-clinical
- Actor: research

## Sources

- Bottleneck evidence (Failures are hidden): Anderson et al., Compliance with results reporting at ClinicalTrials.gov (NEJM 2015): https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsa1409364

## Connected records

- ideas: [A commons of shelved cancer drugs with their full data, open to new hypotheses](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-shelved-asset-commons/), [A formal regulatory route for validating a biomarker on archived trial samples](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-prospective-retrospective-path/), [Patient-level data from failed trials becomes open by default after two years](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-failed-trial-ipd-default/)
- bottlenecks: [Biomarkers are not validated or standardised](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-biomarker-validation/), [Failures are hidden](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-negative-results/)
- key papers: [Compliance with results reporting at ClinicalTrials.gov](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-anderson-n-engl-j-med/)

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