{"entity":{"id":"idea-fund-neutral-platform-sponsor","kind":"idea","name":"A permanent neutral non-profit sponsor for multi-company platform trials","aka":[],"tldr":"Platform trials that test several companies' drugs against one shared control arm, such as I-SPY 2, Lung-MAP, GBM AGILE and STAMPEDE, are each built from scratch by determined individuals. A permanent non-profit sponsor holding the protocol, control arm, statistics and data, with a standard entry contract for companies, would cut the launch of a new platform from years to months.","summary":"A permanent, funded, non-profit organisation that acts as regulatory sponsor and operator for master protocols in which multiple companies contribute agents, on the model of QuantumLeap Healthcare Collaborative (I-SPY 2), the Lung-MAP public-private partnership, GBM AGILE and the UK's STAMPEDE. The sponsor holds the protocol, the shared control arm, the statistical engine and the data, and offers companies a standard entry contract with pre-agreed rights to use platform results for registration. Each platform today is built from scratch by heroic individuals; institutionalising the function lowers the cost and time of adding a new disease platform from years to months.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"I-SPY Trials (QuantumLeap Healthcare Collaborative)","url":"https://www.ispytrials.org/"},{"label":"Lung-MAP","url":"https://www.lung-map.org/"}],"tags":[],"related":["idea-fund-combination-patent-pool","idea-fund-control-arm-commons","idea-fund-rt-io-platform"],"cancers":["glioblastoma","pancreatic","tnbc"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":["swog"],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["basket-umbrella-platform"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-ip-collaboration","b-combination-space","b-trial-design"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"A standing neutral sponsor launches at least five new disease platforms within four years, each enrolling multiple company-owned agents, and reduces per-agent evaluation cost and time by at least a third relative to stand-alone phase 2 trials of the same agents.","rationale":"I-SPY 2 graduated several agents to phase 3 and informed approvals at a fraction of stand-alone trial cost; GBM AGILE and Lung-MAP demonstrate industry willingness to participate under neutral sponsorship. The bottleneck is the absence of a durable institution, not of willing companies.","test":"Fund the sponsor for five years with a mandate to launch platforms in three under-served indications; report agents evaluated, time to activation and cost per agent against historical stand-alone trials.","maturity":"being-tested-at-scale","actor":"philanthropy","cost":"medium","horizonYears":3},"route":"/ideas/idea-fund-neutral-platform-sponsor/","neighbours":{"idea":[{"id":"idea-fund-rt-io-platform","kind":"idea","name":"A neutral platform trial for radiotherapy plus immunotherapy combinations","route":"/ideas/idea-fund-rt-io-platform/"},{"id":"idea-fund-control-arm-commons","kind":"idea","name":"A shared library of pooled control arms to shrink and speed future trials","route":"/ideas/idea-fund-control-arm-commons/"},{"id":"idea-fund-combination-patent-pool","kind":"idea","name":"An oncology patent pool for combination trials across companies","route":"/ideas/idea-fund-combination-patent-pool/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"glioblastoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Glioma & glioblastoma","route":"/cancers/glioblastoma/"},{"id":"pancreatic","kind":"cancer","name":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","route":"/cancers/pancreatic/"},{"id":"tnbc","kind":"cancer","name":"Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)","route":"/cancers/tnbc/"}],"company":[{"id":"swog","kind":"company","name":"SWOG Cancer Research Network","route":"/companies/swog/"}],"term":[{"id":"basket-umbrella-platform","kind":"term","name":"Basket, umbrella, and platform trials","route":"/terms/basket-umbrella-platform/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-ip-collaboration","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Secrecy and intellectual property block collaboration","route":"/bottlenecks/b-ip-collaboration/"},{"id":"b-combination-space","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Too many combinations to test","route":"/bottlenecks/b-combination-space/"},{"id":"b-trial-design","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Trial design, endpoints and cost","route":"/bottlenecks/b-trial-design/"}]}}