An individual, company, institution or organisation that takes responsibility for the initiation, management and arrangement of the financing of a clinical trial. A clinical trial may have one or several sponsors where permitted under regulatory requirements. All sponsors have the responsibilities of a sponsor set out in this guideline. In accordance with applicable regulatory requirements, sponsors may decide in a documented agreement setting out their respective responsibilities. Where the documented agreement does not specify to which sponsor a given responsibility is attributed, that responsibility lies with all sponsors.