{"entity":{"id":"idea-tr2-irb-results-gate","kind":"idea","name":"No new trial approval until the sponsor has reported its old ones","aka":[],"tldr":"Ethics committees should check whether a sponsor has published the results of its previous finished trials before approving the next one.","summary":"Ethics review has a legitimate interest in results reporting: participants consent partly on the promise that knowledge will be shared. Requiring sponsors to certify, and committees to verify via registry, that all trials completed more than two years ago have posted results, with approval withheld otherwise, would create the strongest incentive available without new legislation.","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":["clinicaltrials-gov","idea-tr2-fdaaa-enforcement"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-negative-results"],"keyPapers":["paper-anderson-n-engl-j-med"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"Institutions adopting the gate will see completed-trial results posting exceed 95% within two years, and non-adopting peers will remain below 80%.","rationale":"Ethics committees already condition approval on prior conduct (for example investigator training). The World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki names results publication as an ethical duty.","test":"Pilot at five academic institutions with a shared registry lookup tool; compare posting rates with matched institutions.","maturity":"speculative","actor":"regulator","cost":"small","horizonYears":2},"route":"/ideas/idea-tr2-irb-results-gate/","neighbours":{"collection":[{"id":"clinicaltrials-gov","kind":"collection","name":"ClinicalTrials.gov","route":"/collections/clinicaltrials-gov/"}],"idea":[{"id":"idea-tr2-fdaaa-enforcement","kind":"idea","name":"Actually fine sponsors who do not post trial results","route":"/ideas/idea-tr2-fdaaa-enforcement/"}],"bottleneck":[{"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/"}]}}