Pay investigators for finishing and publishing trials, not for enrolling patients
Trial sites are paid per patient recruited, so nobody is paid to finish the study or report the answer. Shift part of the payment to completion and publication within a year.
Sponsors and public funders restructure site and investigator payments so that a meaningful share (for example 25%) is held back and paid on completion of follow-up, database lock and public results posting within twelve months of the primary completion date, with a further bonus for peer-reviewed publication of negative results. Academic centres pass this through to investigator research accounts. Trial non-reporting remains common years after completion, and academic trials in particular stall in analysis and writing because the incentive ends with the last patient.
- Incentives reward me-too drugs and marginal gains · The system pays the same for a drug that adds two months as for a cure, so companies race to copy rather than to cure.
- Failures are hidden · Negative trials, failed drugs and abandoned programmes are rarely published, so the same mistakes are repeated.
- Trials enrol too few, too slowly · Fewer than one in ten adults with cancer joins a trial. Trials close for lack of patients, not lack of ideas.
Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- IdeaPublish why patients were screened out of each trial
Shares EU Clinical Trials Register / CTIS, ClinicalTrials.gov, Trials enrol too few, too slowly.
- IdeaOne clinical trial application accepted by regulators in every major region
Shares EU Clinical Trials Register / CTIS, ClinicalTrials.gov, Trials enrol too few, too slowly.
- IdeaScoop protection and co-publication norms to reduce academic secrecy
Shares Funder bonuses for releasing results and data within six months, negatives included, Promote academics for trials completed, data shared and findings replicated.
- IdeaOne national master contract and budget template for all cancer trials
Shares EU Clinical Trials Register / CTIS, ClinicalTrials.gov, Trials enrol too few, too slowly.
- IdeaActually fine sponsors who do not post trial results
Shares EU Clinical Trials Register / CTIS, ClinicalTrials.gov, Failures are hidden.
- IdeaOne ethics approval and one consent form for a platform trial across countries
Shares EU Clinical Trials Register / CTIS, ClinicalTrials.gov.
- IdeaMutual recognition of ethics review across countries
Shares EU Clinical Trials Register / CTIS, Trials enrol too few, too slowly.
- IdeaA plain-language summary of every cancer trial result within a year
Shares EU Clinical Trials Register / CTIS, ClinicalTrials.gov.