Estimands, Estimators and Sensitivity Analysis in Clinical Trials


Book Description

The concepts of estimands, analyses (estimators), and sensitivity are interrelated. Therefore, great need exists for an integrated approach to these topics. This book acts as a practical guide to developing and implementing statistical analysis plans by explaining fundamental concepts using accessible language, providing technical details, real-world examples, and SAS and R code to implement analyses. The updated ICH guideline raises new analytic and cross-functional challenges for statisticians. Gaps between different communities have come to surface, such as between causal inference and clinical trialists, as well as among clinicians, statisticians, and regulators when it comes to communicating decision-making objectives, assumptions, and interpretations of evidence. This book lays out a path toward bridging some of these gaps. It offers A common language and unifying framework along with the technical details and practical guidance to help statisticians meet the challenges A thorough treatment of intercurrent events (ICEs), i.e., postrandomization events that confound interpretation of outcomes and five strategies for ICEs in ICH E9 (R1) Details on how estimands, integrated into a principled study development process, lay a foundation for coherent specification of trial design, conduct, and analysis needed to overcome the issues caused by ICEs: A perspective on the role of the intention-to-treat principle Examples and case studies from various areas Example code in SAS and R A connection with causal inference Implications and methods for analysis of longitudinal trials with missing data Together, the authors have offered the readers their ample expertise in clinical trial design and analysis, from an industrial and academic perspective.




Estimands, Estimators and Sensitivity Analysis in Clinical Trials


Book Description

The concepts of estimands, analyses (estimators), and sensitivity are interrelated. Therefore, great need exists for an integrated approach to these topics. This book acts as a practical guide to developing and implementing statistical analysis plans by explaining fundamental concepts using accessible language, providing technical details, real-world examples, and SAS and R code to implement analyses. The updated ICH guideline raises new analytic and cross-functional challenges for statisticians. Gaps between different communities have come to surface, such as between causal inference and clinical trialists, as well as among clinicians, statisticians, and regulators when it comes to communicating decision-making objectives, assumptions, and interpretations of evidence. This book lays out a path toward bridging some of these gaps. It offers  A common language and unifying framework along with the technical details and practical guidance to help statisticians meet the challenges  A thorough treatment of intercurrent events (ICEs), i.e., postrandomization events that confound interpretation of outcomes and five strategies for ICEs in ICH E9 (R1)  Details on how estimands, integrated into a principled study development process, lay a foundation for coherent specification of trial design, conduct, and analysis needed to overcome the issues caused by ICEs:  A perspective on the role of the intention-to-treat principle  Examples and case studies from various areas  Example code in SAS and R  A connection with causal inference  Implications and methods for analysis of longitudinal trials with missing data Together, the authors have offered the readers their ample expertise in clinical trial design and analysis, from an industrial and academic perspective.




Clinical Trials with Missing Data


Book Description

This book provides practical guidance for statisticians, clinicians, and researchers involved in clinical trials in the biopharmaceutical industry, medical and public health organisations. Academics and students needing an introduction to handling missing data will also find this book invaluable. The authors describe how missing data can affect the outcome and credibility of a clinical trial, show by examples how a clinical team can work to prevent missing data, and present the reader with approaches to address missing data effectively. The book is illustrated throughout with realistic case studies and worked examples, and presents clear and concise guidelines to enable good planning for missing data. The authors show how to handle missing data in a way that is transparent and easy to understand for clinicians, regulators and patients. New developments are presented to improve the choice and implementation of primary and sensitivity analyses for missing data. Many SAS code examples are included – the reader is given a toolbox for implementing analyses under a variety of assumptions.




The Prevention and Treatment of Missing Data in Clinical Trials


Book Description

Randomized clinical trials are the primary tool for evaluating new medical interventions. Randomization provides for a fair comparison between treatment and control groups, balancing out, on average, distributions of known and unknown factors among the participants. Unfortunately, these studies often lack a substantial percentage of data. This missing data reduces the benefit provided by the randomization and introduces potential biases in the comparison of the treatment groups. Missing data can arise for a variety of reasons, including the inability or unwillingness of participants to meet appointments for evaluation. And in some studies, some or all of data collection ceases when participants discontinue study treatment. Existing guidelines for the design and conduct of clinical trials, and the analysis of the resulting data, provide only limited advice on how to handle missing data. Thus, approaches to the analysis of data with an appreciable amount of missing values tend to be ad hoc and variable. The Prevention and Treatment of Missing Data in Clinical Trials concludes that a more principled approach to design and analysis in the presence of missing data is both needed and possible. Such an approach needs to focus on two critical elements: (1) careful design and conduct to limit the amount and impact of missing data and (2) analysis that makes full use of information on all randomized participants and is based on careful attention to the assumptions about the nature of the missing data underlying estimates of treatment effects. In addition to the highest priority recommendations, the book offers more detailed recommendations on the conduct of clinical trials and techniques for analysis of trial data.




Statistical Design, Monitoring, and Analysis of Clinical Trials


Book Description

Statistical Design, Monitoring, and Analysis of Clinical Trials, Second Edition concentrates on the biostatistics component of clinical trials. This new edition is updated throughout and includes five new chapters. Developed from the authors’ courses taught to public health and medical students, residents, and fellows during the past 20 years, the text shows how biostatistics in clinical trials is an integration of many fundamental scientific principles and statistical methods. The book begins with ethical and safety principles, core trial design concepts, the principles and methods of sample size and power calculation, and analysis of covariance and stratified analysis. It then focuses on sequential designs and methods for two-stage Phase II cancer trials to Phase III group sequential trials, covering monitoring safety, futility, and efficacy. The authors also discuss the development of sample size reestimation and adaptive group sequential procedures, phase 2/3 seamless design and trials with predictive biomarkers, exploit multiple testing procedures, and explain the concept of estimand, intercurrent events, and different missing data processes, and describe how to analyze incomplete data by proper multiple imputations. This text reflects the academic research, commercial development, and public health aspects of clinical trials. It gives students and practitioners a multidisciplinary understanding of the concepts and techniques involved in designing, monitoring, and analyzing various types of trials. The book’s balanced set of homework assignments and in-class exercises are appropriate for students and researchers in (bio)statistics, epidemiology, medicine, pharmacy, and public health.




Missing Data in Clinical Studies


Book Description

Missing Data in Clinical Studies provides a comprehensive account of the problems arising when data from clinical and related studies are incomplete, and presents the reader with approaches to effectively address them. The text provides a critique of conventional and simple methods before moving on to discuss more advanced approaches. The authors focus on practical and modeling concepts, providing an extensive set of case studies to illustrate the problems described. Provides a practical guide to the analysis of clinical trials and related studies with missing data. Examines the problems caused by missing data, enabling a complete understanding of how to overcome them. Presents conventional, simple methods to tackle these problems, before addressing more advanced approaches, including sensitivity analysis, and the MAR missingness mechanism. Illustrated throughout with real-life case studies and worked examples from clinical trials. Details the use and implementation of the necessary statistical software, primarily SAS. Missing Data in Clinical Studies has been developed through a series of courses and lectures. Its practical approach will appeal to applied statisticians and biomedical researchers, in particular those in the biopharmaceutical industry, medical and public health organisations. Graduate students of biostatistics will also find much of benefit.




Design and Analysis of Bioavailability and Bioequivalence Studies


Book Description

Preeminent Experts Update a Well-Respected BookTaking into account the regulatory and scientific developments that have occurred since the second edition, Design and Analysis of Bioavailability and Bioequivalence Studies, Third Edition provides a complete presentation of the latest progress of activities and results in bioavailability and bioequiva




Targeted Learning


Book Description

The statistics profession is at a unique point in history. The need for valid statistical tools is greater than ever; data sets are massive, often measuring hundreds of thousands of measurements for a single subject. The field is ready to move towards clear objective benchmarks under which tools can be evaluated. Targeted learning allows (1) the full generalization and utilization of cross-validation as an estimator selection tool so that the subjective choices made by humans are now made by the machine, and (2) targeting the fitting of the probability distribution of the data toward the target parameter representing the scientific question of interest. This book is aimed at both statisticians and applied researchers interested in causal inference and general effect estimation for observational and experimental data. Part I is an accessible introduction to super learning and the targeted maximum likelihood estimator, including related concepts necessary to understand and apply these methods. Parts II-IX handle complex data structures and topics applied researchers will immediately recognize from their own research, including time-to-event outcomes, direct and indirect effects, positivity violations, case-control studies, censored data, longitudinal data, and genomic studies.




Statistical Thinking for Non-Statisticians in Drug Regulation


Book Description

STATISTICAL THINKING FOR NON-STATISTICIANS IN DRUG REGULATION Statistical methods in the pharmaceutical industry are accepted as a key element in the design and analysis of clinical studies. Increasingly, the medical and scientific community are aligning with the regulatory authorities and recognizing that correct statistical methodology is essential as the basis for valid conclusions. In order for those correct and robust methods to be successfully employed there needs to be effective communication across disciplines at all stages of the planning, conducting, analyzing and reporting of clinical studies associated with the development and evaluation of new drugs and devices. Statistical Thinking for Non-Statisticians in Drug Regulation provides a comprehensive in-depth guide to statistical methodology for pharmaceutical industry professionals, including physicians, investigators, medical science liaisons, clinical research scientists, medical writers, regulatory personnel, statistical programmers, senior data managers and those working in pharmacovigilance. The author’s years of experience and up-to-date familiarity with pharmaceutical regulations and statistical practice within the wider clinical community make this an essential guide for the those working in and with the industry. The third edition of Statistical Thinking for Non-Statisticians in Drug Regulation includes: A detailed new chapter on Estimands in line with the 2019 Addendum to ICH E9 Major new sections on topics including Combining Hierarchical Testing and Alpha Adjustment, Biosimilars, Restricted Mean Survival Time, Composite Endpoints and Cumulative Incidence Functions, Adjusting for Cross-Over in Oncology, Inverse Propensity Score Weighting, and Network Meta-Analysis Updated coverage of many existing topics to reflect new and revised guidance from regulatory authorities and author experience Statistical Thinking for Non-Statisticians in Drug Regulation is a valuable guide for pharmaceutical and medical device industry professionals, as well as statisticians joining the pharmaceutical industry and students and teachers of drug development.




Report of the technical consultation on innovative clinical trial designs for development of new TB treatments


Book Description

The Global Tuberculosis Programme of the World Health Organization (WHO) convened a virtual technical consultation on “Innovative Clinical Trial Designs for Development of New TB Treatments” on 5 days between 20 August and 13 October 2021. The main objective of the meeting was to establish evidence-based approaches to trial designs and use of data to inform policy guidance of new regimens for the treatment of TB with the view to accelerate future regimen development. The consultation brought together researchers, academics, technical partners, TB drugs and regimens developers including pharmaceutical industry, trialists, regulators, guideline developers, programme managers, nongovernmental organizations and civil society.