# Ian F. Tannock

Source: https://onco.cc/people/ian-tannock/  
OnCo record `ian-tannock` (Person). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Led TAX 327, which made docetaxel the first life-extending chemotherapy for prostate cancer, and has spent decades pressing for higher trial standards.

## Summary

Ian Tannock was principal investigator of TAX 327, the trial showing docetaxel improves survival in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, the first chemotherapy to do so. He co-authored the textbook The Basic Science of Oncology, helped create the ESMO Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale, and has been a leading critic of trials that rely on surrogate endpoints, control-arm deficiencies and inadequate quality-of-life reporting. He is a founder of Common Sense Oncology.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-10
- Tags: evidence; methodology; prostate
- Role: Emeritus Professor of Medical Oncology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and University of Toronto
- Specialisms: Trial methodology; Prostate cancer; Clinical benefit assessment; Tumour biology

## Sources

- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Tannock%20IF%5BAuthor%5D%20prostate%20docetaxel%20OR%20clinical%20benefit

## Connected records

- cancers: [Prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/prostate/)
- drugs: [Docetaxel](https://onco.cc/drugs/docetaxel/)
- institutions: [Princess Margaret Cancer Centre](https://onco.cc/institutions/princess-margaret/)
- key papers: [FDA's Project Optimus manifesto: cancer drugs are approved at doses that are too high](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-drug-dosing-conundrum-nejm-2021/), [Prasad: most surrogate endpoints in cancer trials correlate poorly with survival](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-prasad-surrogate-endpoints-jama-im-2015/), [TAX 327: docetaxel plus prednisone or mitoxantrone plus prednisone for advanced prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-tannock-tax-327-docetaxel-prednisone-nejm-2004/)

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