{"entity":{"id":"idea-tr2-negative-plenaries","kind":"idea","name":"Give negative trials plenary slots at the big cancer conferences","aka":[],"tldr":"Conferences headline the trials that worked, while most negative trials end up as posters or are never submitted. A standing plenary at ASCO, ESMO and AACR for negative and practice-reversing trials, with a discussant drawing lessons for design and biology, would make the failures impossible to miss.","summary":"Practice-changing negative trials (for example those that stop an established practice) are sometimes presented, but most negative trials are relegated to posters or never submitted. A standing plenary session at ASCO, ESMO and AACR for high-importance negative and reversal trials, with a discussant focused on lessons for design and biology, would raise the status of reporting failure.","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":["asco","esmo","aacr"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-negative-results","b-knowledge-diffusion"],"keyPapers":["paper-anderson-n-engl-j-med"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"Introduction of a negative-results plenary increases submission of negative phase 3 trials to the meeting by at least 50% and their subsequent full publication rate.","rationale":"Conference prestige drives what is submitted and written up. The ASCO 'Trials in Progress' session shows that a new session type can change behaviour.","test":"Run the session at one meeting for two years; count negative-trial submissions and publications before and after.","maturity":"speculative","actor":"research","cost":"small","horizonYears":1},"route":"/ideas/idea-tr2-negative-plenaries/","neighbours":{"institution":[{"id":"aacr","kind":"institution","name":"American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)","route":"/institutions/aacr/"},{"id":"asco","kind":"institution","name":"American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)","route":"/institutions/asco/"},{"id":"esmo","kind":"institution","name":"European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)","route":"/institutions/esmo/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-negative-results","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Failures are hidden","route":"/bottlenecks/b-negative-results/"},{"id":"b-knowledge-diffusion","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Knowledge reaches practice too slowly","route":"/bottlenecks/b-knowledge-diffusion/"}],"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/"}]}}