{"entity":{"id":"ian-tannock","kind":"person","name":"Ian F. Tannock","aka":[],"tldr":"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.","asOf":"2026-09-10","links":[{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Tannock%20IF%5BAuthor%5D%20prostate%20docetaxel%20OR%20clinical%20benefit"}],"tags":["evidence","methodology","prostate"],"related":[],"cancers":["prostate"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":["docetaxel"],"companies":[],"institutions":["princess-margaret"],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":["paper-prasad-surrogate-endpoints-jama-im-2015","paper-drug-dosing-conundrum-nejm-2021"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"role":"Emeritus Professor of Medical Oncology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and University of Toronto","institutionId":"princess-margaret","specialisms":["Trial methodology","Prostate cancer","Clinical benefit assessment","Tumour biology"],"profiles":[{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Tannock%20IF%5BAuthor%5D%20prostate%20docetaxel%20OR%20clinical%20benefit"}],"papers":[{"title":"Docetaxel plus prednisone or mitoxantrone plus prednisone for advanced prostate cancer (TAX 327)","journal":"NEJM","year":2004,"doi":"10.1056/NEJMoa040720"},{"title":"Relevance of randomised controlled trials in oncology","journal":"Lancet Oncology","year":2016,"doi":"10.1016/S1470-2045(16)30572-1"},{"title":"Prasad: most surrogate endpoints in cancer trials correlate poorly with survival","journal":"JAMA Internal Medicine","year":2015,"url":"https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.2829","doi":"10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.2829"},{"title":"FDA's Project Optimus manifesto: cancer drugs are approved at doses that are too high","journal":"New England Journal of Medicine","year":2021,"url":"https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2109826","doi":"10.1056/NEJMp2109826"}]},"route":"/people/ian-tannock/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"prostate","kind":"cancer","name":"Prostate cancer","route":"/cancers/prostate/"}],"drug":[{"id":"docetaxel","kind":"drug","name":"Docetaxel","route":"/drugs/docetaxel/"}],"institution":[{"id":"princess-margaret","kind":"institution","name":"Princess Margaret Cancer Centre","route":"/institutions/princess-margaret/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-drug-dosing-conundrum-nejm-2021","kind":"paper","name":"FDA's Project Optimus manifesto: cancer drugs are approved at doses that are too high","route":"/key-papers/paper-drug-dosing-conundrum-nejm-2021/"},{"id":"paper-prasad-surrogate-endpoints-jama-im-2015","kind":"paper","name":"Prasad: most surrogate endpoints in cancer trials correlate poorly with survival","route":"/key-papers/paper-prasad-surrogate-endpoints-jama-im-2015/"},{"id":"paper-tannock-tax-327-docetaxel-prednisone-nejm-2004","kind":"paper","name":"TAX 327: docetaxel plus prednisone or mitoxantrone plus prednisone for advanced prostate cancer","route":"/key-papers/paper-tannock-tax-327-docetaxel-prednisone-nejm-2004/"}]}}