Multiple Analyses in Clinical Trials


Book Description

Concentrating on the rationale for the analyses, the difficulties posed by their interpretation, easily understood solutions, and useful problem sets, this book will help clinical investigators understand multiple analysis procedures and key issues. It is written for advanced medical students, clinical investigators at all levels, research groups within the pharmaceutical industry, regulators at the local, state, and federal level, and biostatisticians.




Small Clinical Trials


Book Description

Clinical trials are used to elucidate the most appropriate preventive, diagnostic, or treatment options for individuals with a given medical condition. Perhaps the most essential feature of a clinical trial is that it aims to use results based on a limited sample of research participants to see if the intervention is safe and effective or if it is comparable to a comparison treatment. Sample size is a crucial component of any clinical trial. A trial with a small number of research participants is more prone to variability and carries a considerable risk of failing to demonstrate the effectiveness of a given intervention when one really is present. This may occur in phase I (safety and pharmacologic profiles), II (pilot efficacy evaluation), and III (extensive assessment of safety and efficacy) trials. Although phase I and II studies may have smaller sample sizes, they usually have adequate statistical power, which is the committee's definition of a "large" trial. Sometimes a trial with eight participants may have adequate statistical power, statistical power being the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when the hypothesis is false. Small Clinical Trials assesses the current methodologies and the appropriate situations for the conduct of clinical trials with small sample sizes. This report assesses the published literature on various strategies such as (1) meta-analysis to combine disparate information from several studies including Bayesian techniques as in the confidence profile method and (2) other alternatives such as assessing therapeutic results in a single treated population (e.g., astronauts) by sequentially measuring whether the intervention is falling above or below a preestablished probability outcome range and meeting predesigned specifications as opposed to incremental improvement.




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.




Strategy and Statistics in Clinical Trials


Book Description

Delineates the statistical building blocks and concepts of clinical trials.




Sharing Clinical Trial Data


Book Description

Data sharing can accelerate new discoveries by avoiding duplicative trials, stimulating new ideas for research, and enabling the maximal scientific knowledge and benefits to be gained from the efforts of clinical trial participants and investigators. At the same time, sharing clinical trial data presents risks, burdens, and challenges. These include the need to protect the privacy and honor the consent of clinical trial participants; safeguard the legitimate economic interests of sponsors; and guard against invalid secondary analyses, which could undermine trust in clinical trials or otherwise harm public health. Sharing Clinical Trial Data presents activities and strategies for the responsible sharing of clinical trial data. With the goal of increasing scientific knowledge to lead to better therapies for patients, this book identifies guiding principles and makes recommendations to maximize the benefits and minimize risks. This report offers guidance on the types of clinical trial data available at different points in the process, the points in the process at which each type of data should be shared, methods for sharing data, what groups should have access to data, and future knowledge and infrastructure needs. Responsible sharing of clinical trial data will allow other investigators to replicate published findings and carry out additional analyses, strengthen the evidence base for regulatory and clinical decisions, and increase the scientific knowledge gained from investments by the funders of clinical trials. The recommendations of Sharing Clinical Trial Data will be useful both now and well into the future as improved sharing of data leads to a stronger evidence base for treatment. This book will be of interest to stakeholders across the spectrum of research-from funders, to researchers, to journals, to physicians, and ultimately, to patients.




Multiple Testing Problems in Pharmaceutical Statistics


Book Description

Useful Statistical Approaches for Addressing Multiplicity IssuesIncludes practical examples from recent trials Bringing together leading statisticians, scientists, and clinicians from the pharmaceutical industry, academia, and regulatory agencies, Multiple Testing Problems in Pharmaceutical Statistics explores the rapidly growing area of multiple c




Sample Size Determination in Clinical Trials with Multiple Endpoints


Book Description

This book integrates recent methodological developments for calculating the sample size and power in trials with more than one endpoint considered as multiple primary or co-primary, offering an important reference work for statisticians working in this area. The determination of sample size and the evaluation of power are fundamental and critical elements in the design of clinical trials. If the sample size is too small, important effects may go unnoticed; if the sample size is too large, it represents a waste of resources and unethically puts more participants at risk than necessary. Recently many clinical trials have been designed with more than one endpoint considered as multiple primary or co-primary, creating a need for new approaches to the design and analysis of these clinical trials. The book focuses on the evaluation of power and sample size determination when comparing the effects of two interventions in superiority clinical trials with multiple endpoints. Methods for sample size calculation in clinical trials where the alternative hypothesis is that there are effects on ALL endpoints are discussed in detail. The book also briefly examines trials designed with an alternative hypothesis of an effect on AT LEAST ONE endpoint with a prespecified non-ordering of endpoints.




Statistical Aspects Of The Design And Analysis Of Clinical Trials (Revised Edition)


Book Description

Fully updated, this revised edition describes the statistical aspects of both the design and analysis of trials, with particular emphasis on the more recent methods of analysis.About 8000 clinical trials are undertaken annually in all areas of medicine, from the treatment of acne to the prevention of cancer. Correct interpretation of the data from such trials depends largely on adequate design and on performing the appropriate statistical analyses. This book provides a useful guide to medical statisticians and others faced with the often difficult problems of designing and analysing clinical trials./a




Biomarker Analysis in Clinical Trials with R


Book Description

The world is awash in data. This volume of data will continue to increase. In the pharmaceutical industry, much of this data explosion has happened around biomarker data. Great statisticians are needed to derive understanding from these data. This book will guide you as you begin the journey into communicating, understanding and synthesizing biomarker data. -From the Foreword, Jared Christensen, Vice President, Biostatistics Early Clinical Development, Pfizer, Inc. Biomarker Analysis in Clinical Trials with R offers practical guidance to statisticians in the pharmaceutical industry on how to incorporate biomarker data analysis in clinical trial studies. The book discusses the appropriate statistical methods for evaluating pharmacodynamic, predictive and surrogate biomarkers for delivering increased value in the drug development process. The topic of combining multiple biomarkers to predict drug response using machine learning is covered. Featuring copious reproducible code and examples in R, the book helps students, researchers and biostatisticians get started in tackling the hard problems of designing and analyzing trials with biomarkers. Features: Analysis of pharmacodynamic biomarkers for lending evidence target modulation. Design and analysis of trials with a predictive biomarker. Framework for analyzing surrogate biomarkers. Methods for combining multiple biomarkers to predict treatment response. Offers a biomarker statistical analysis plan. R code, data and models are given for each part: including regression models for survival and longitudinal data, as well as statistical learning models, such as graphical models and penalized regression models.




Analysis of Clinical Trials Using SAS


Book Description

Analysis of Clinical Trials Using SAS®: A Practical Guide, Second Edition bridges the gap between modern statistical methodology and real-world clinical trial applications. Tutorial material and step-by-step instructions illustrated with examples from actual trials serve to define relevant statistical approaches, describe their clinical trial applications, and implement the approaches rapidly and efficiently using the power of SAS. Topics reflect the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines for the pharmaceutical industry and address important statistical problems encountered in clinical trials. Commonly used methods are covered, including dose-escalation and dose-finding methods that are applied in Phase I and Phase II clinical trials, as well as important trial designs and analysis strategies that are employed in Phase II and Phase III clinical trials, such as multiplicity adjustment, data monitoring, and methods for handling incomplete data. This book also features recommendations from clinical trial experts and a discussion of relevant regulatory guidelines. This new edition includes more examples and case studies, new approaches for addressing statistical problems, and the following new technological updates: SAS procedures used in group sequential trials (PROC SEQDESIGN and PROC SEQTEST) SAS procedures used in repeated measures analysis (PROC GLIMMIX and PROC GEE) macros for implementing a broad range of randomization-based methods in clinical trials, performing complex multiplicity adjustments, and investigating the design and analysis of early phase trials (Phase I dose-escalation trials and Phase II dose-finding trials) Clinical statisticians, research scientists, and graduate students in biostatistics will greatly benefit from the decades of clinical research experience and the ready-to-use SAS macros compiled in this book.