PSI Scientific Committee Webinar: Heart Failure Trials: Novel Estimands and Methodologies to Evaluate Therapies based on the Totality of Evidence
Heart failure (HF) is a common and global health problem affecting approx. 2% of adults in developed countries. Good news is that with new treatments on the market, HF has been converted from a short-term and quickly fatal condition to a chronic disease, which is characterized by recurrent non-fatal events (HF hospitalizations) and relatively low disease-related mortality. Classical heart failure trials have used a composite primary endpoint of cardiovascular (CV) death and HF hospitalization. This endpoint was then analyzed using a ‘time to first composite event’ analysis.
Various limitations of this endpoint have been raised in recent years. Among others, the ‘time to first composite event’ endpoint is thought to not fully capture the disease burden as it ignores all events that occur after the first event. Given that a number of recent large HF
outcome trials have failed to show a clinical benefit for patients using the traditional endpoint, clinical teams are reviewing novel endpoints that better capture clinical benefit and which
adapt to the changing disease profile.
In this session, we will discuss some of the recently proposed estimands and their associated analysis methods, ranging from composite endpoints of recurrent HF hospitalizations (HFH) and death to joint frailty models for recurrent HFH and death. We will illustrate these approaches based on various case-studies and discuss benefits as well as limitations from an academic, regulatory and industry perspective.
Application of Recurrent Events Methodology in Cardiovascular Trials
Dr. Brian Claggett (Harvard Medical School)
We describe a range of alternative models for recurrent events data collected in cardiovascular trials. We consider their applicability and interpretation from a medical context and illustrate them using data from a particular trial.
The Totality of Evidence: Is More the Same as Better?
Dr. Bruce Binkowitz (Merck)
Analysis of time to first event is a long held tradition for trials in the cardiovascular area, including heart failure. Yet subjects in these studies can experience more than 1 event. Recent literature has focused on utilizing all events experienced by each subject as a way of increasing efficiency through having to enroll less subjects, use less investigator sites, and save money. Consideration for examining all events further extends to measuring total patient burden, cost effectiveness, and most importantly, capturing the best picture of a subject's condition and therefore the best potential therapy. This presentation will discuss how analyzing total events isn't as simple as designing a traditional time to first event study and, for example, running an Anderson-Gill extension to a Cox PH model on all events. Examples will be taken from actual trials including a trial examining subjects with acute decompensated heart failure.
Recurrent or Multiple Event Analyses in Cardiovascular Trials
Dr. H.M. James Hung, US FDA
In cardiovascular or renal trials that we have seen in regulatory applications, major adverse clinical events are almost always assessed using analysis of time to first occurrence of the events. As some component events occur much more frequently, such as hospitalizations, during the trial, the analysis that includes all the events may improve statistical efficiency and capture disease burden of patients more properly. In this talk, I shall share a number of regulatory experiences with recurrent or multiple event analyses to give my insights into the possible values of such analysis and to stipulate the issues that need more attention.
Registration fee: None
This webinar is free of charge. However, attendees must register on the PSI website in order to obtain the dial-in details and the webinar link.
We do encourage your participation. If you have questions relating to this webinar, or any of the listed talks, ahead of the webinar, please email them to Mouna.Akacha@novartis.com
We will do our best to discuss them at the webinar.
PSI Scientific Committee Webinar: Heart Failure Trials: Novel Estimands and Methodologies to Evaluate Therapies based on the Totality of Evidence
Heart failure (HF) is a common and global health problem affecting approx. 2% of adults in developed countries. Good news is that with new treatments on the market, HF has been converted from a short-term and quickly fatal condition to a chronic disease, which is characterized by recurrent non-fatal events (HF hospitalizations) and relatively low disease-related mortality. Classical heart failure trials have used a composite primary endpoint of cardiovascular (CV) death and HF hospitalization. This endpoint was then analyzed using a ‘time to first composite event’ analysis.
Various limitations of this endpoint have been raised in recent years. Among others, the ‘time to first composite event’ endpoint is thought to not fully capture the disease burden as it ignores all events that occur after the first event. Given that a number of recent large HF
outcome trials have failed to show a clinical benefit for patients using the traditional endpoint, clinical teams are reviewing novel endpoints that better capture clinical benefit and which
adapt to the changing disease profile.
In this session, we will discuss some of the recently proposed estimands and their associated analysis methods, ranging from composite endpoints of recurrent HF hospitalizations (HFH) and death to joint frailty models for recurrent HFH and death. We will illustrate these approaches based on various case-studies and discuss benefits as well as limitations from an academic, regulatory and industry perspective.
Application of Recurrent Events Methodology in Cardiovascular Trials
Dr. Brian Claggett (Harvard Medical School)
We describe a range of alternative models for recurrent events data collected in cardiovascular trials. We consider their applicability and interpretation from a medical context and illustrate them using data from a particular trial.
The Totality of Evidence: Is More the Same as Better?
Dr. Bruce Binkowitz (Merck)
Analysis of time to first event is a long held tradition for trials in the cardiovascular area, including heart failure. Yet subjects in these studies can experience more than 1 event. Recent literature has focused on utilizing all events experienced by each subject as a way of increasing efficiency through having to enroll less subjects, use less investigator sites, and save money. Consideration for examining all events further extends to measuring total patient burden, cost effectiveness, and most importantly, capturing the best picture of a subject's condition and therefore the best potential therapy. This presentation will discuss how analyzing total events isn't as simple as designing a traditional time to first event study and, for example, running an Anderson-Gill extension to a Cox PH model on all events. Examples will be taken from actual trials including a trial examining subjects with acute decompensated heart failure.
Recurrent or Multiple Event Analyses in Cardiovascular Trials
Dr. H.M. James Hung, US FDA
In cardiovascular or renal trials that we have seen in regulatory applications, major adverse clinical events are almost always assessed using analysis of time to first occurrence of the events. As some component events occur much more frequently, such as hospitalizations, during the trial, the analysis that includes all the events may improve statistical efficiency and capture disease burden of patients more properly. In this talk, I shall share a number of regulatory experiences with recurrent or multiple event analyses to give my insights into the possible values of such analysis and to stipulate the issues that need more attention.
Registration fee: None
This webinar is free of charge. However, attendees must register on the PSI website in order to obtain the dial-in details and the webinar link.
We do encourage your participation. If you have questions relating to this webinar, or any of the listed talks, ahead of the webinar, please email them to Mouna.Akacha@novartis.com
We will do our best to discuss them at the webinar.
PSI Scientific Committee Webinar: Heart Failure Trials: Novel Estimands and Methodologies to Evaluate Therapies based on the Totality of Evidence
Heart failure (HF) is a common and global health problem affecting approx. 2% of adults in developed countries. Good news is that with new treatments on the market, HF has been converted from a short-term and quickly fatal condition to a chronic disease, which is characterized by recurrent non-fatal events (HF hospitalizations) and relatively low disease-related mortality. Classical heart failure trials have used a composite primary endpoint of cardiovascular (CV) death and HF hospitalization. This endpoint was then analyzed using a ‘time to first composite event’ analysis.
Various limitations of this endpoint have been raised in recent years. Among others, the ‘time to first composite event’ endpoint is thought to not fully capture the disease burden as it ignores all events that occur after the first event. Given that a number of recent large HF
outcome trials have failed to show a clinical benefit for patients using the traditional endpoint, clinical teams are reviewing novel endpoints that better capture clinical benefit and which
adapt to the changing disease profile.
In this session, we will discuss some of the recently proposed estimands and their associated analysis methods, ranging from composite endpoints of recurrent HF hospitalizations (HFH) and death to joint frailty models for recurrent HFH and death. We will illustrate these approaches based on various case-studies and discuss benefits as well as limitations from an academic, regulatory and industry perspective.
Application of Recurrent Events Methodology in Cardiovascular Trials
Dr. Brian Claggett (Harvard Medical School)
We describe a range of alternative models for recurrent events data collected in cardiovascular trials. We consider their applicability and interpretation from a medical context and illustrate them using data from a particular trial.
The Totality of Evidence: Is More the Same as Better?
Dr. Bruce Binkowitz (Merck)
Analysis of time to first event is a long held tradition for trials in the cardiovascular area, including heart failure. Yet subjects in these studies can experience more than 1 event. Recent literature has focused on utilizing all events experienced by each subject as a way of increasing efficiency through having to enroll less subjects, use less investigator sites, and save money. Consideration for examining all events further extends to measuring total patient burden, cost effectiveness, and most importantly, capturing the best picture of a subject's condition and therefore the best potential therapy. This presentation will discuss how analyzing total events isn't as simple as designing a traditional time to first event study and, for example, running an Anderson-Gill extension to a Cox PH model on all events. Examples will be taken from actual trials including a trial examining subjects with acute decompensated heart failure.
Recurrent or Multiple Event Analyses in Cardiovascular Trials
Dr. H.M. James Hung, US FDA
In cardiovascular or renal trials that we have seen in regulatory applications, major adverse clinical events are almost always assessed using analysis of time to first occurrence of the events. As some component events occur much more frequently, such as hospitalizations, during the trial, the analysis that includes all the events may improve statistical efficiency and capture disease burden of patients more properly. In this talk, I shall share a number of regulatory experiences with recurrent or multiple event analyses to give my insights into the possible values of such analysis and to stipulate the issues that need more attention.
Registration fee: None
This webinar is free of charge. However, attendees must register on the PSI website in order to obtain the dial-in details and the webinar link.
We do encourage your participation. If you have questions relating to this webinar, or any of the listed talks, ahead of the webinar, please email them to Mouna.Akacha@novartis.com
We will do our best to discuss them at the webinar.
PSI Scientific Committee Webinar: Heart Failure Trials: Novel Estimands and Methodologies to Evaluate Therapies based on the Totality of Evidence
Heart failure (HF) is a common and global health problem affecting approx. 2% of adults in developed countries. Good news is that with new treatments on the market, HF has been converted from a short-term and quickly fatal condition to a chronic disease, which is characterized by recurrent non-fatal events (HF hospitalizations) and relatively low disease-related mortality. Classical heart failure trials have used a composite primary endpoint of cardiovascular (CV) death and HF hospitalization. This endpoint was then analyzed using a ‘time to first composite event’ analysis.
Various limitations of this endpoint have been raised in recent years. Among others, the ‘time to first composite event’ endpoint is thought to not fully capture the disease burden as it ignores all events that occur after the first event. Given that a number of recent large HF
outcome trials have failed to show a clinical benefit for patients using the traditional endpoint, clinical teams are reviewing novel endpoints that better capture clinical benefit and which
adapt to the changing disease profile.
In this session, we will discuss some of the recently proposed estimands and their associated analysis methods, ranging from composite endpoints of recurrent HF hospitalizations (HFH) and death to joint frailty models for recurrent HFH and death. We will illustrate these approaches based on various case-studies and discuss benefits as well as limitations from an academic, regulatory and industry perspective.
Application of Recurrent Events Methodology in Cardiovascular Trials
Dr. Brian Claggett (Harvard Medical School)
We describe a range of alternative models for recurrent events data collected in cardiovascular trials. We consider their applicability and interpretation from a medical context and illustrate them using data from a particular trial.
The Totality of Evidence: Is More the Same as Better?
Dr. Bruce Binkowitz (Merck)
Analysis of time to first event is a long held tradition for trials in the cardiovascular area, including heart failure. Yet subjects in these studies can experience more than 1 event. Recent literature has focused on utilizing all events experienced by each subject as a way of increasing efficiency through having to enroll less subjects, use less investigator sites, and save money. Consideration for examining all events further extends to measuring total patient burden, cost effectiveness, and most importantly, capturing the best picture of a subject's condition and therefore the best potential therapy. This presentation will discuss how analyzing total events isn't as simple as designing a traditional time to first event study and, for example, running an Anderson-Gill extension to a Cox PH model on all events. Examples will be taken from actual trials including a trial examining subjects with acute decompensated heart failure.
Recurrent or Multiple Event Analyses in Cardiovascular Trials
Dr. H.M. James Hung, US FDA
In cardiovascular or renal trials that we have seen in regulatory applications, major adverse clinical events are almost always assessed using analysis of time to first occurrence of the events. As some component events occur much more frequently, such as hospitalizations, during the trial, the analysis that includes all the events may improve statistical efficiency and capture disease burden of patients more properly. In this talk, I shall share a number of regulatory experiences with recurrent or multiple event analyses to give my insights into the possible values of such analysis and to stipulate the issues that need more attention.
Registration fee: None
This webinar is free of charge. However, attendees must register on the PSI website in order to obtain the dial-in details and the webinar link.
We do encourage your participation. If you have questions relating to this webinar, or any of the listed talks, ahead of the webinar, please email them to Mouna.Akacha@novartis.com
We will do our best to discuss them at the webinar.
PSI Scientific Committee Webinar: Heart Failure Trials: Novel Estimands and Methodologies to Evaluate Therapies based on the Totality of Evidence
Heart failure (HF) is a common and global health problem affecting approx. 2% of adults in developed countries. Good news is that with new treatments on the market, HF has been converted from a short-term and quickly fatal condition to a chronic disease, which is characterized by recurrent non-fatal events (HF hospitalizations) and relatively low disease-related mortality. Classical heart failure trials have used a composite primary endpoint of cardiovascular (CV) death and HF hospitalization. This endpoint was then analyzed using a ‘time to first composite event’ analysis.
Various limitations of this endpoint have been raised in recent years. Among others, the ‘time to first composite event’ endpoint is thought to not fully capture the disease burden as it ignores all events that occur after the first event. Given that a number of recent large HF
outcome trials have failed to show a clinical benefit for patients using the traditional endpoint, clinical teams are reviewing novel endpoints that better capture clinical benefit and which
adapt to the changing disease profile.
In this session, we will discuss some of the recently proposed estimands and their associated analysis methods, ranging from composite endpoints of recurrent HF hospitalizations (HFH) and death to joint frailty models for recurrent HFH and death. We will illustrate these approaches based on various case-studies and discuss benefits as well as limitations from an academic, regulatory and industry perspective.
Application of Recurrent Events Methodology in Cardiovascular Trials
Dr. Brian Claggett (Harvard Medical School)
We describe a range of alternative models for recurrent events data collected in cardiovascular trials. We consider their applicability and interpretation from a medical context and illustrate them using data from a particular trial.
The Totality of Evidence: Is More the Same as Better?
Dr. Bruce Binkowitz (Merck)
Analysis of time to first event is a long held tradition for trials in the cardiovascular area, including heart failure. Yet subjects in these studies can experience more than 1 event. Recent literature has focused on utilizing all events experienced by each subject as a way of increasing efficiency through having to enroll less subjects, use less investigator sites, and save money. Consideration for examining all events further extends to measuring total patient burden, cost effectiveness, and most importantly, capturing the best picture of a subject's condition and therefore the best potential therapy. This presentation will discuss how analyzing total events isn't as simple as designing a traditional time to first event study and, for example, running an Anderson-Gill extension to a Cox PH model on all events. Examples will be taken from actual trials including a trial examining subjects with acute decompensated heart failure.
Recurrent or Multiple Event Analyses in Cardiovascular Trials
Dr. H.M. James Hung, US FDA
In cardiovascular or renal trials that we have seen in regulatory applications, major adverse clinical events are almost always assessed using analysis of time to first occurrence of the events. As some component events occur much more frequently, such as hospitalizations, during the trial, the analysis that includes all the events may improve statistical efficiency and capture disease burden of patients more properly. In this talk, I shall share a number of regulatory experiences with recurrent or multiple event analyses to give my insights into the possible values of such analysis and to stipulate the issues that need more attention.
Registration fee: None
This webinar is free of charge. However, attendees must register on the PSI website in order to obtain the dial-in details and the webinar link.
We do encourage your participation. If you have questions relating to this webinar, or any of the listed talks, ahead of the webinar, please email them to Mouna.Akacha@novartis.com
We will do our best to discuss them at the webinar.
PSI Scientific Committee Webinar: Heart Failure Trials: Novel Estimands and Methodologies to Evaluate Therapies based on the Totality of Evidence
Heart failure (HF) is a common and global health problem affecting approx. 2% of adults in developed countries. Good news is that with new treatments on the market, HF has been converted from a short-term and quickly fatal condition to a chronic disease, which is characterized by recurrent non-fatal events (HF hospitalizations) and relatively low disease-related mortality. Classical heart failure trials have used a composite primary endpoint of cardiovascular (CV) death and HF hospitalization. This endpoint was then analyzed using a ‘time to first composite event’ analysis.
Various limitations of this endpoint have been raised in recent years. Among others, the ‘time to first composite event’ endpoint is thought to not fully capture the disease burden as it ignores all events that occur after the first event. Given that a number of recent large HF
outcome trials have failed to show a clinical benefit for patients using the traditional endpoint, clinical teams are reviewing novel endpoints that better capture clinical benefit and which
adapt to the changing disease profile.
In this session, we will discuss some of the recently proposed estimands and their associated analysis methods, ranging from composite endpoints of recurrent HF hospitalizations (HFH) and death to joint frailty models for recurrent HFH and death. We will illustrate these approaches based on various case-studies and discuss benefits as well as limitations from an academic, regulatory and industry perspective.
Application of Recurrent Events Methodology in Cardiovascular Trials
Dr. Brian Claggett (Harvard Medical School)
We describe a range of alternative models for recurrent events data collected in cardiovascular trials. We consider their applicability and interpretation from a medical context and illustrate them using data from a particular trial.
The Totality of Evidence: Is More the Same as Better?
Dr. Bruce Binkowitz (Merck)
Analysis of time to first event is a long held tradition for trials in the cardiovascular area, including heart failure. Yet subjects in these studies can experience more than 1 event. Recent literature has focused on utilizing all events experienced by each subject as a way of increasing efficiency through having to enroll less subjects, use less investigator sites, and save money. Consideration for examining all events further extends to measuring total patient burden, cost effectiveness, and most importantly, capturing the best picture of a subject's condition and therefore the best potential therapy. This presentation will discuss how analyzing total events isn't as simple as designing a traditional time to first event study and, for example, running an Anderson-Gill extension to a Cox PH model on all events. Examples will be taken from actual trials including a trial examining subjects with acute decompensated heart failure.
Recurrent or Multiple Event Analyses in Cardiovascular Trials
Dr. H.M. James Hung, US FDA
In cardiovascular or renal trials that we have seen in regulatory applications, major adverse clinical events are almost always assessed using analysis of time to first occurrence of the events. As some component events occur much more frequently, such as hospitalizations, during the trial, the analysis that includes all the events may improve statistical efficiency and capture disease burden of patients more properly. In this talk, I shall share a number of regulatory experiences with recurrent or multiple event analyses to give my insights into the possible values of such analysis and to stipulate the issues that need more attention.
Registration fee: None
This webinar is free of charge. However, attendees must register on the PSI website in order to obtain the dial-in details and the webinar link.
We do encourage your participation. If you have questions relating to this webinar, or any of the listed talks, ahead of the webinar, please email them to Mouna.Akacha@novartis.com
We will do our best to discuss them at the webinar.
Upcoming Events
PSI Book Club - The Art of Explanation: How to Communicate with Clarity and Confidence
Develop your non-technical skills by reading The Art of Explanation by Ros Atkins and joining the Sept-Dec 2025 book club. You will be invited to join facilitated discussions of the concepts and ideas and apply skills from the book in-between sessions.
Joint PSI/EFSPI Visualisation SIG 'Wonderful Wednesday' Webinars
Our monthly webinar explores examples of innovative data visualisations relevant to our day to day work. Each month a new dataset is provided from a clinical trial or other relevant example, and participants are invited to submit a graphic that communicates interesting and relevant characteristics of the data.
Topic: R Package Basics.
Our monthly webinar series allows attendees to gain practical knowledge and skills in open-source coding and tools, with a focus on applications in the pharmaceutical industry. This month’s session, “R Package Basics,” will introduce the fundamentals of working with R packages—covering how to install, load, and manage them effectively to support data analysis and reproducible research. The session will provide a solid starting point, clarify common misconceptions, and offer valuable resources for continued learning.
Pre-Clinical SIG Webinar: Modern Algorithms for Animal Randomization in Preclinical Studies
A 1 hour online event, that includes a presentation followed by Q&A.
This webinar will first define terminology in causal inference/data fusion and illustrate their use with two case studies.
Date: 19 November 2025
This event is aimed at students with an interest in the field of Medical Statistics, for example within pharmaceuticals, healthcare and/or medical research.
This networking event is aimed at statisticians that are new to the pharmaceutical industry who wish to meet colleagues from different companies and backgrounds.
PSI Book Club Lunch and Learn: Communicating with Clarity and Confidence
If you have read Ros Atkins’ book The Art of Explanation or want to listen to the BBC’s ‘Communicator in Chief’, you are invited to join the PSI Book Club Lunch and Learn, to discuss the content and application with the author, Ros Atkins. Having written the book within the context of the news industry, Ros is keen to hear how we have applied the ideas as statisticians within drug development and clinical trials. There will be dedicated time during the webinar to ASK THE AUTHOR any questions – don’t miss out on this exclusive PSI Book Club event!
Haven’t read the book yet? Pick up a copy today and join us.
Explanation - identifying and communicating what we want to say - is described as an art, in the title of his book. However, the creativity comes from Ros’ discernment in identifying and describing a clear step-by-step process to follow and practice. Readers can learn Ros’ rules, developed and polished throughout his career as a journalist, to help communicate complex written or spoken information clearly.