A panel convened by the National Cancer Institute last week recommended a sweeping restructuring of NCI-funded clinical trials. Among the most far-reaching of the group's 22 recommendations is to create scientific steering committees to coordinate all phase III trials for major cancers. “That's a huge change,” says panel member Richard Schilsky of the University of Chicago, noting that the varied ways trials are currently reviewed can lead to redundant studies. The 77-page report also calls for a central database of trials with summary results, and it sets aside new funds for molecular medicine. Total costs of the restructuring plans are estimated at $113 million over 5 years. NCI Director Andrew von Eschenbach, who called for the review 18 months ago, said on 7 June that the reorganization “will change the future of clinical research.”