# A plain-language summary of every cancer trial result within a year

Source: https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-data-plain-language-summary-mandate/  
OnCo record `idea-data-plain-language-summary-mandate` (Idea). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Every cancer trial would have to publish a short, clear summary that patients can understand, within twelve months of results, in one public place.

## Summary

The EU Clinical Trials Regulation requires lay summaries within 12 months of trial end, but compliance is incomplete, quality varies and there is no US equivalent. The proposal is a global requirement (via ICMJE, registries and funders) that every interventional oncology trial deposit a plain-language summary meeting a readability standard, machine-tagged to the trial record, translated into major languages, and hosted centrally with the structured results.

## Fields

- Kind: Idea
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Hypothesis: Universal plain-language summaries will raise patient awareness of trial results and be used by more than a quarter of patients making treatment decisions in surveyed populations within five years.
- Rationale: Patients report that they cannot find or understand trial results; the EU regulation shows the requirement is enforceable, and structured hosting makes summaries discoverable.
- Proposed test: Audit compliance and readability of EU lay summaries in oncology; pilot central hosting and translation for one year and measure access and patient-reported use.
- Maturity: being-tested-at-scale
- Actor: regulator

## Sources

- EU CTR lay summary guidance: https://health.ec.europa.eu/medicinal-products/clinical-trials/clinical-trials-regulation-eu-no-5362014_en

## Connected records

- collections: [ClinicalTrials.gov](https://onco.cc/collections/clinicaltrials-gov/), [EU Clinical Trials Register / CTIS](https://onco.cc/collections/eudract-ctis/)
- fronts: [AI & Computation](https://onco.cc/fronts/ai-computation/)
- bottlenecks: [Knowledge reaches practice too slowly](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-knowledge-diffusion/), [Misinformation and unproven therapies](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-misinformation/), [Patients lack understanding, navigation and agency](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-patient-voice/)
- ideas: [Subscribable alerts when the standard of care changes for a patient's situation](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-data-standard-of-care-change-alerts/)

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