Randomized Phase II Cancer Clinical Trials


Book Description

In cancer research, a traditional phase II trial is designed as a single-arm trial that compares the experimental therapy to a historical control. This simple trial design has led to several adverse issues, including increased false positivity of phase II trial results and negative phase III trials. To rectify these problems, oncologists and biosta




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.




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.




Clinical Trials in Oncology, Third Edition


Book Description

The third edition of the bestselling Clinical Trials in Oncology provides a concise, nontechnical, and thoroughly up-to-date review of methods and issues related to cancer clinical trials. The authors emphasize the importance of proper study design, analysis, and data management and identify the pitfalls inherent in these processes. In addition, the book has been restructured to have separate chapters and expanded discussions on general clinical trials issues, and issues specific to Phases I, II, and III. New sections cover innovations in Phase I designs, randomized Phase II designs, and overcoming the challenges of array data. Although this book focuses on cancer trials, the same issues and concepts are important in any clinical setting. As always, the authors use clear, lucid prose and a multitude of real-world examples to convey the principles of successful trials without the need for a strong statistics or mathematics background. Armed with Clinical Trials in Oncology, Third Edition, clinicians and statisticians can avoid the many hazards that can jeopardize the success of a trial.




A National Cancer Clinical Trials System for the 21st Century


Book Description

The National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Clinical Trials Cooperative Group Program has played a key role in developing new and improved cancer therapies. However, the program is falling short of its potential, and the IOM recommends changes that aim to transform the Cooperative Group Program into a dynamic system that efficiently responds to emerging scientific knowledge; involves broad cooperation of stakeholders; and leverages evolving technologies to provide high-quality, practice-changing research.




Randomized Phase II Cancer Clinical Trials


Book Description

In cancer research, a traditional phase II trial is designed as a single-arm trial that compares the experimental therapy to a historical control. This simple trial design has led to several adverse issues, including increased false positivity of phase II trial results and negative phase III trials. To rectify these problems, oncologists and biostatisticians have begun to use a randomized phase II trial that compares an experimental therapy with a prospective control therapy. Randomized Phase II Cancer Clinical Trials explains how to properly select and accurately use diverse statistical methods for designing and analyzing phase II trials. The author first reviews the statistical methods for single-arm phase II trials since some methodologies for randomized phase II trials stem from single-arm phase II trials and many phase II cancer clinical trials still use single-arm designs. The book then presents methods for randomized phase II trials and describes statistical methods for both single-arm and randomized phase II trials. Although the text focuses on phase II cancer clinical trials, the statistical methods covered can also be used (with minor modifications) in phase II trials for other diseases and in phase III cancer clinical trials. Suitable for cancer clinicians and biostatisticians, this book shows how randomized phase II trials with a prospective control resolve the shortcomings of traditional single-arm phase II trials. It provides readers with numerous statistical design and analysis methods for randomized phase II trials in oncology.




Adaptive Design Methods in Clinical Trials


Book Description

With new statistical and scientific issues arising in adaptive clinical trial design, including the U.S. FDA's recent draft guidance, a new edition of one of the first books on the topic is needed. Adaptive Design Methods in Clinical Trials, Second Edition reflects recent developments and regulatory positions on the use of adaptive designs in clini




Bone Metastases from Prostate Cancer


Book Description

This book presents up-to-date information on one of the hottest topics in prostate cancer, namely bone metastases. The most recent developments with respect to biology, pathology, diagnosis, and treatment are described, providing readers with an excellent understanding of the mechanisms of metastasis formation, the characteristics of metastases, their aggressiveness, and prognostic factors for treatment response. The coverage includes discussion of all of the best available options (laboratory, radiology, and nuclear medicine) for achieving early diagnosis and both established and novel therapeutic approaches. Detailed information is provided on hormonal manipulations, bone-targeted agents, vaccines, taxanes, and other treatments that are enriching the therapeutic armamentarium. The editors can be considered leaders in the field, with great experience in diagnostic and clinical oncology and research, and the authors are experts in diverse specialties. This ensures a multidisciplinary approach, mirroring the current situation in which treatment in patients with bone metastases is undertaken by a team of specialists and health professionals in a variety of fields.




Randomization in Clinical Trials


Book Description

Praise for the First Edition “All medical statisticians involved in clinical trials should read this book...” - Controlled Clinical Trials Featuring a unique combination of the applied aspects of randomization in clinical trials with a nonparametric approach to inference, Randomization in Clinical Trials: Theory and Practice, Second Edition is the go-to guide for biostatisticians and pharmaceutical industry statisticians. Randomization in Clinical Trials: Theory and Practice, Second Edition features: Discussions on current philosophies, controversies, and new developments in the increasingly important role of randomization techniques in clinical trials A new chapter on covariate-adaptive randomization, including minimization techniques and inference New developments in restricted randomization and an increased focus on computation of randomization tests as opposed to the asymptotic theory of randomization tests Plenty of problem sets, theoretical exercises, and short computer simulations using SAS® to facilitate classroom teaching, simplify the mathematics, and ease readers’ understanding Randomization in Clinical Trials: Theory and Practice, Second Edition is an excellent reference for researchers as well as applied statisticians and biostatisticians. The Second Edition is also an ideal textbook for upper-undergraduate and graduate-level courses in biostatistics and applied statistics. William F. Rosenberger, PhD, is University Professor and Chairman of the Department of Statistics at George Mason University. He is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and author of over 80 refereed journal articles, as well as The Theory of Response-Adaptive Randomization in Clinical Trials, also published by Wiley. John M. Lachin, ScD, is Research Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics as well as in the Department of Statistics at The George Washington University. A Fellow of the American Statistical Association and the Society for Clinical Trials, Dr. Lachin is actively involved in coordinating center activities for clinical trials of diabetes. He is the author of Biostatistical Methods: The Assessment of Relative Risks, Second Edition, also published by Wiley.




The Design of Studies for Medical Research


Book Description

The same careful rigour imposed on the design of phase III randomised controlled trials is not always applied to medical research in other areas such as trials conducted at earlier stages of drug development. With the emphasis that is now placed on evidence-based medicine, such care and rigour will inevitably impact on these areas with increasing attention turned to the quality of design. This title describes what principles can be used to structure research effectively allowing for the required degree of accuracy. Written by two best selling authors, this book includes many examples from medical literature and will be of great value to all groups conducting studies at the interface of clinical and laboratory research.