# Patient-level data from failed trials becomes open by default after two years

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

## TL;DR

When a trial fails, the company has little commercial reason to keep the detailed data secret. Make sharing it the default rather than something researchers must beg for.

## Summary

Platforms such as Vivli and YODA share individual participant data on request, but sponsors control access and failed trials are under-represented. Since a discontinued programme has little competitive value, a policy (via funders, journals and regulators) that participant-level data from terminated oncology programmes is deposited with open access after 24 months would unlock meta-analysis, biomarker work and methods research.

## Fields

- Kind: Idea
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Hypothesis: Within three years, participant-level data from at least half of terminated phase 2 and 3 oncology programmes is available for download or streamlined access, up from a small minority today.
- Rationale: Trial participants consented to advance knowledge; data locked after failure honours neither them nor the science. Trials with shared data generate multiple secondary publications.
- Proposed test: Adopt the policy at two major funders and one journal group; measure deposit rates and secondary analyses.
- Maturity: early-clinical
- Actor: policy

## Sources

- Vivli: https://vivli.org/
- YODA Project: https://yoda.yale.edu/

## Connected records

- ideas: [Journals check that data links actually work, and flag papers whose data vanish](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-data-link-enforcement/), [Rescue the biological samples from failed trials for biomarker research](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-failed-trial-biobank/)
- bottlenecks: [Data silos](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-data-silos/), [Failures are hidden](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-negative-results/)

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