Adaptive methods can improve personalised medicine trials; CEO

Conducting trials in smaller patient populations when developing personalised medicines poses challenges, such as how to recruit patients fast enough, but these can be overcome using adaptive methods, according to a CEO.

Speaking to Outsourcing-Pharma Michael Rosenberg, CEO of Health Decisions, explained that adopting adaptive methods, in both design and operations, can help improve the efficiency of trials for personalised medicines.

For instance, use of adaptive operations can help speed patient recruitment, a particular problem when conducting trials on small, specific populations, by identifying which methods are proving effective and adjusting accordingly.

Furthermore, use of adaptive design can give information on outcomes and modifiers during the course of a trial, giving companies the ability to change practices part way through the study.