{"entity":{"id":"idea-tr2-failed-trial-biobank","kind":"idea","name":"Rescue the biological samples from failed trials for biomarker research","aka":[],"tldr":"Trials that fail still collected thousands of blood and tissue samples. Instead of being destroyed, they should be pooled so scientists can learn who might have benefited.","summary":"Negative trials are often the most informative for biomarker discovery: a subgroup may have responded. Samples from discontinued programmes are usually destroyed or locked. A biobank with pre-negotiated transfer terms, linked de-identified clinical data, and an access committee would allow prospective-retrospective biomarker studies and could resurrect drugs for a biomarker-defined population.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Bottleneck evidence (Failures are hidden): Anderson et al., Compliance with results reporting at ClinicalTrials.gov (NEJM 2015)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsa1409364"}],"tags":[],"related":["idea-tr2-prospective-retrospective-path","idea-tr2-shelved-asset-commons"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-negative-results","b-biomarker-validation"],"keyPapers":["paper-anderson-n-engl-j-med"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"At least two drugs from failed trials in the biobank will produce a validated predictive biomarker leading to a new enrichment trial within five years.","rationale":"Cetuximab in KRAS wild-type colorectal cancer and gefitinib in EGFR-mutant lung cancer were rescued retrospectively from broadly negative or marginal populations. Systematising sample rescue would make such rescues routine.","test":"Secure samples from five recently failed phase 3 oncology trials; fund two biomarker discovery studies; report time to access and findings.","maturity":"early-clinical","actor":"research","cost":"medium","horizonYears":3},"route":"/ideas/idea-tr2-failed-trial-biobank/","neighbours":{"idea":[{"id":"idea-tr2-shelved-asset-commons","kind":"idea","name":"A commons of shelved cancer drugs with their full data, open to new hypotheses","route":"/ideas/idea-tr2-shelved-asset-commons/"},{"id":"idea-tr2-prospective-retrospective-path","kind":"idea","name":"A formal regulatory route for validating a biomarker on archived trial samples","route":"/ideas/idea-tr2-prospective-retrospective-path/"},{"id":"idea-tr2-failed-trial-ipd-default","kind":"idea","name":"Patient-level data from failed trials becomes open by default after two years","route":"/ideas/idea-tr2-failed-trial-ipd-default/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-biomarker-validation","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Biomarkers are not validated or standardised","route":"/bottlenecks/b-biomarker-validation/"},{"id":"b-negative-results","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Failures are hidden","route":"/bottlenecks/b-negative-results/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-anderson-n-engl-j-med","kind":"paper","name":"Compliance with results reporting at ClinicalTrials.gov","route":"/key-papers/paper-anderson-n-engl-j-med/"}]}}