Statistical Methods in Drug Combination Studies

Statistical Methods in Drug Combination Studies
Author: Wei Zhao
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2014-12-19
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1482216752

The growing interest in using combination drugs to treat various complex diseases has spawned the development of many novel statistical methodologies. The theoretical development, coupled with advances in statistical computing, makes it possible to apply these emerging statistical methods in in vitro and in vivo drug combination assessments. Howeve

Small Clinical Trials

Small Clinical Trials
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2001-01-01
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309171148

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 Trial Design

Clinical Trial Design
Author: Guosheng Yin
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2013-06-07
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1118183320

A balanced treatment of the theories, methodologies, and design issues involved in clinical trials using statistical methods There has been enormous interest and development in Bayesian adaptive designs, especially for early phases of clinical trials. However, for phase III trials, frequentist methods still play a dominant role through controlling type I and type II errors in the hypothesis testing framework. From practical perspectives, Clinical Trial Design: Bayesian and Frequentist Adaptive Methods provides comprehensive coverage of both Bayesian and frequentist approaches to all phases of clinical trial design. Before underpinning various adaptive methods, the book establishes an overview of the fundamentals of clinical trials as well as a comparison of Bayesian and frequentist statistics. Recognizing that clinical trial design is one of the most important and useful skills in the pharmaceutical industry, this book provides detailed discussions on a variety of statistical designs, their properties, and operating characteristics for phase I, II, and III clinical trials as well as an introduction to phase IV trials. Many practical issues and challenges arising in clinical trials are addressed. Additional topics of coverage include: Risk and benefit analysis for toxicity and efficacy trade-offs Bayesian predictive probability trial monitoring Bayesian adaptive randomization Late onset toxicity and response Dose finding in drug combination trials Targeted therapy designs The author utilizes cutting-edge clinical trial designs and statistical methods that have been employed at the world's leading medical centers as well as in the pharmaceutical industry. The software used throughout the book is freely available on the book's related website, equipping readers with the necessary tools for designing clinical trials. Clinical Trial Design is an excellent book for courses on the topic at the graduate level. The book also serves as a valuable reference for statisticians and biostatisticians in the pharmaceutical industry as well as for researchers and practitioners who design, conduct, and monitor clinical trials in their everyday work.

Bayesian Analysis with R for Drug Development

Bayesian Analysis with R for Drug Development
Author: Harry Yang
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2019-06-26
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1351585932

Drug development is an iterative process. The recent publications of regulatory guidelines further entail a lifecycle approach. Blending data from disparate sources, the Bayesian approach provides a flexible framework for drug development. Despite its advantages, the uptake of Bayesian methodologies is lagging behind in the field of pharmaceutical development. Written specifically for pharmaceutical practitioners, Bayesian Analysis with R for Drug Development: Concepts, Algorithms, and Case Studies, describes a wide range of Bayesian applications to problems throughout pre-clinical, clinical, and Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Control (CMC) development. Authored by two seasoned statisticians in the pharmaceutical industry, the book provides detailed Bayesian solutions to a broad array of pharmaceutical problems. Features Provides a single source of information on Bayesian statistics for drug development Covers a wide spectrum of pre-clinical, clinical, and CMC topics Demonstrates proper Bayesian applications using real-life examples Includes easy-to-follow R code with Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo performed in both JAGS and Stan Bayesian software platforms Offers sufficient background for each problem and detailed description of solutions suitable for practitioners with limited Bayesian knowledge Harry Yang, Ph.D., is Senior Director and Head of Statistical Sciences at AstraZeneca. He has 24 years of experience across all aspects of drug research and development and extensive global regulatory experiences. He has published 6 statistical books, 15 book chapters, and over 90 peer-reviewed papers on diverse scientific and statistical subjects, including 15 joint statistical works with Dr. Novick. He is a frequent invited speaker at national and international conferences. He also developed statistical courses and conducted training at the FDA and USP as well as Peking University. Steven Novick, Ph.D., is Director of Statistical Sciences at AstraZeneca. He has extensively contributed statistical methods to the biopharmaceutical literature. Novick is a skilled Bayesian computer programmer and is frequently invited to speak at conferences, having developed and taught courses in several areas, including drug-combination analysis and Bayesian methods in clinical areas. Novick served on IPAC-RS and has chaired several national statistical conferences.

The Prevention and Treatment of Missing Data in Clinical Trials

The Prevention and Treatment of Missing Data in Clinical Trials
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 163
Release: 2010-12-21
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 030918651X

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.

Sharing Clinical Trial Data

Sharing Clinical Trial Data
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2015-04-20
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309316324

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.

Drug Synergism and Dose-Effect Data Analysis

Drug Synergism and Dose-Effect Data Analysis
Author: Ronald J. Tallarida
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2000-07-21
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1420036106

Not since this author's bestselling Manual of Pharmacologic Calculation has there been an available reference for drug data analysis. Incorporating the most relevant parts of that work, Drug Synergism and Dose-Effect Data Analysis focuses on drug combinations and all the quantitative analyses needed to analyze drug combination dose-effect data and to design experiments with two or more compounds. The book contains the statistical methods, the theory, and the computation algorithms needed to analyze single and combination drug data. Numerous examples accompany a presentation that illustrates the calculations and experimental design considerations for modern drug analysis.

Number-Theoretic Methods in Statistics

Number-Theoretic Methods in Statistics
Author: Kai-Tai Fang
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 356
Release: 1993-12-01
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 9780412465208

This book is a survey of recent work on the application of number theory in statistics. The essence of number-theoretic methods is to find a set of points that are universally scattered over an s-dimensional unit cube. In certain circumstances this set can be used instead of random numbers in the Monte Carlo method. The idea can also be applied to other problems such as in experimental design. This book will illustrate the idea of number-theoretic methods and their application in statistics. The emphasis is on applying the methods to practical problems so only part-proofs of theorems are given.

Developing a Protocol for Observational Comparative Effectiveness Research: A User's Guide

Developing a Protocol for Observational Comparative Effectiveness Research: A User's Guide
Author: Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (U.S.)
Publisher: Government Printing Office
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2013-02-21
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1587634236

This User’s Guide is a resource for investigators and stakeholders who develop and review observational comparative effectiveness research protocols. It explains how to (1) identify key considerations and best practices for research design; (2) build a protocol based on these standards and best practices; and (3) judge the adequacy and completeness of a protocol. Eleven chapters cover all aspects of research design, including: developing study objectives, defining and refining study questions, addressing the heterogeneity of treatment effect, characterizing exposure, selecting a comparator, defining and measuring outcomes, and identifying optimal data sources. Checklists of guidance and key considerations for protocols are provided at the end of each chapter. The User’s Guide was created by researchers affiliated with AHRQ’s Effective Health Care Program, particularly those who participated in AHRQ’s DEcIDE (Developing Evidence to Inform Decisions About Effectiveness) program. Chapters were subject to multiple internal and external independent reviews. More more information, please consult the Agency website: www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov)

Innovative Strategies, Statistical Solutions and Simulations for Modern Clinical Trials

Innovative Strategies, Statistical Solutions and Simulations for Modern Clinical Trials
Author: Mark Chang
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2019-03-20
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1351214527

"This is truly an outstanding book. [It] brings together all of the latest research in clinical trials methodology and how it can be applied to drug development.... Chang et al provide applications to industry-supported trials. This will allow statisticians in the industry community to take these methods seriously." Jay Herson, Johns Hopkins University The pharmaceutical industry's approach to drug discovery and development has rapidly transformed in the last decade from the more traditional Research and Development (R & D) approach to a more innovative approach in which strategies are employed to compress and optimize the clinical development plan and associated timelines. However, these strategies are generally being considered on an individual trial basis and not as part of a fully integrated overall development program. Such optimization at the trial level is somewhat near-sighted and does not ensure cost, time, or development efficiency of the overall program. This book seeks to address this imbalance by establishing a statistical framework for overall/global clinical development optimization and providing tactics and techniques to support such optimization, including clinical trial simulations. Provides a statistical framework for achieve global optimization in each phase of the drug development process. Describes specific techniques to support optimization including adaptive designs, precision medicine, survival-endpoints, dose finding and multiple testing. Gives practical approaches to handling missing data in clinical trials using SAS. Looks at key controversial issues from both a clinical and statistical perspective. Presents a generous number of case studies from multiple therapeutic areas that help motivate and illustrate the statistical methods introduced in the book. Puts great emphasis on software implementation of the statistical methods with multiple examples of software code (both SAS and R). It is important for statisticians to possess a deep knowledge of the drug development process beyond statistical considerations. For these reasons, this book incorporates both statistical and "clinical/medical" perspectives.