Date: Monday 24th - Thursday 27th January 2022 Time: Lectures 09:00-12:00 on the 24th & 27th. Separate forum setup for practical exercises between the 24th-26th. Speakers: Sebastian Weber and Gaëlle Saint-Hilary
Who is this event intended for? All statisticians working on clinical trials, with a basic knowledge of R. Some notions of Bayesian statistics could be helpful. What is the benefit of attending? Attendees will have the chance to cover; Bayesian Dynamic Borrowing designs based on the meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model; Design planning, operating characteristics, statistical analysis; and Applications using the R package RBesT.
Course Cost
Regular Members = £340+VAT Regular Non-Members = £465*+VAT
*Please note: Non-Member rates include PSI membership until 31 Dec. 2022.
There is an intrinsic interest of leveraging all available information for an efficient design and analysis of clinical trials. Including external data in the analysis of clinical trials may increase study power or allow for the reduction of (usually) the control group sample size. The use of external data in trials are nowadays used in earlier phases of drug development (Trippa, Rosnerand Muller, 2012; French, Thomas and Wang, 2012; Hueber et al., 2012; Smith et al., 2019), occasionally in phase III trials (French et al., 2012; Viele et al., 2018), and also in special areas such as medical devices (FDA, 2010a), orphan indications (Dupont and Van Wilder, 2011) and extrapolation in pediatric studies (Berry, 1989; Best et al., 2019). This allows adequately powered trials at smaller sample sizes leading to faster trial conduct and exposure of fewer patients to a potentially in-effective control treatment.
In this short course, we will provide a statistical framework to incorporate external information into a trial. During the first part of the course, we will introduce Bayesian Dynamic Borrowing designs based on the meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model (Neuenschwander et al., 2010). The MAP model is a Bayesian hierarchical model, which combines the evidence from different potentially heterogeneous sources. Dynamic borrowing permits to limit the use of historical data when it is incompatible with the data observed within the trial.
In the second part of the course, we will propose a practice session with applications using the R package RBesT, the R Bayesian evidence synthesis tools, which are freely available from CRAN. These exercises will enable participants to apply the presented approach themselves. During third and last part of the course, more advanced topics will be detailed such as effective and maximum sample sizes, advanced operating characteristics, and probability of success.
Agenda
Lecture session 1 (morning of Monday 24th January (09:00-12:00))
• Meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model
• Robustification for dynamic borrowing
• Design planning, operating characteristics
• Final analysis Practice sessions (afternoon of Monday 24th, all day Tuesday 25th, all day Wednesday 26th)
• Supervised homework, set-up in a separate forum Lecture session 2 (morning of Thursday 27th January (09:00-12:00))
• Effective sample size, maximum sample size
• Advanced operating characteristics
• Equivalence between MAP and MAC (Meta-analysis combined)
• Probability of success, decision rule
Speaker details
Speaker
Biography
Gaëlle Saint-Hilary
Gaëlle Saint-Hilary is Statistical Methodologist, CEO and founder of the consulting company Saryga (France). Prior to this role, Gaëlle was Statistical Methodologist at Servier until December 2021. With more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry (Servier, Novartis) and a strong and long-lasting collaboration with academia, Gaëlle Saint-Hilary is an expert in Bayesian statistics and decision-making support. She has worked at developing novel approaches to improve drug development’s performances, and her main scientific interests are quantitative decision-making, benefit-risk assessment, innovative study designs and historical data.
Sebastian Weber
Sebastian Weber is working as Director in the Department of Advanced Methodology and Data Science at Novartis. He holds a PhD in Physics from the TU Darmstadt and joined Novartis 8+ years ago. He has worked extensively on enabling the use of historical (control) information in clinical trials through consulting and working on tools to facilitate the application of historical control information from trial design to analysis. Furthermore, Sebastian has experience in designing Oncology phase I dose-escalation trails and is also involved in pediatric drug development programs, where he applies extrapolation concepts. His research interests include the application of pharmacometrics in statistics, model-based drug development and application of Bayesian methods for drug development.
Disclaimer
PSI is a non-profit organisation run by volunteers. Many of the event organisers and presenters donate their time, while the majority of the event registration cost is spent on administrative support, venue rental / online conferencing, travel costs for the presenter, software licences, and general running of the society. PSI strives to offer high quality courses, but cannot offer a guarantee that the content presented is accurate or fit for your particular needs. Please check if any software is required for this course and ensure you are able to run it prior to registering.
Cancellation and Moderation Terms For cancellations received up to two weeks prior to a PSI event start-date, the event registration fee will be refunded less 25% administrative charge. After this date, no refunds will be possible. A handling fee of 20 GBP per registration will be charged for every registration modification received two weeks prior or less, including a delegate name change.
Scientific Meetings
PSI Training Course: Use of Historical Data in Clinical Trials: An Evidence Synthesis Approach
Date: Monday 24th - Thursday 27th January 2022 Time: Lectures 09:00-12:00 on the 24th & 27th. Separate forum setup for practical exercises between the 24th-26th. Speakers: Sebastian Weber and Gaëlle Saint-Hilary
Who is this event intended for? All statisticians working on clinical trials, with a basic knowledge of R. Some notions of Bayesian statistics could be helpful. What is the benefit of attending? Attendees will have the chance to cover; Bayesian Dynamic Borrowing designs based on the meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model; Design planning, operating characteristics, statistical analysis; and Applications using the R package RBesT.
Course Cost
Regular Members = £340+VAT Regular Non-Members = £465*+VAT
*Please note: Non-Member rates include PSI membership until 31 Dec. 2022.
There is an intrinsic interest of leveraging all available information for an efficient design and analysis of clinical trials. Including external data in the analysis of clinical trials may increase study power or allow for the reduction of (usually) the control group sample size. The use of external data in trials are nowadays used in earlier phases of drug development (Trippa, Rosnerand Muller, 2012; French, Thomas and Wang, 2012; Hueber et al., 2012; Smith et al., 2019), occasionally in phase III trials (French et al., 2012; Viele et al., 2018), and also in special areas such as medical devices (FDA, 2010a), orphan indications (Dupont and Van Wilder, 2011) and extrapolation in pediatric studies (Berry, 1989; Best et al., 2019). This allows adequately powered trials at smaller sample sizes leading to faster trial conduct and exposure of fewer patients to a potentially in-effective control treatment.
In this short course, we will provide a statistical framework to incorporate external information into a trial. During the first part of the course, we will introduce Bayesian Dynamic Borrowing designs based on the meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model (Neuenschwander et al., 2010). The MAP model is a Bayesian hierarchical model, which combines the evidence from different potentially heterogeneous sources. Dynamic borrowing permits to limit the use of historical data when it is incompatible with the data observed within the trial.
In the second part of the course, we will propose a practice session with applications using the R package RBesT, the R Bayesian evidence synthesis tools, which are freely available from CRAN. These exercises will enable participants to apply the presented approach themselves. During third and last part of the course, more advanced topics will be detailed such as effective and maximum sample sizes, advanced operating characteristics, and probability of success.
Agenda
Lecture session 1 (morning of Monday 24th January (09:00-12:00))
• Meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model
• Robustification for dynamic borrowing
• Design planning, operating characteristics
• Final analysis Practice sessions (afternoon of Monday 24th, all day Tuesday 25th, all day Wednesday 26th)
• Supervised homework, set-up in a separate forum Lecture session 2 (morning of Thursday 27th January (09:00-12:00))
• Effective sample size, maximum sample size
• Advanced operating characteristics
• Equivalence between MAP and MAC (Meta-analysis combined)
• Probability of success, decision rule
Speaker details
Speaker
Biography
Gaëlle Saint-Hilary
Gaëlle Saint-Hilary is Statistical Methodologist, CEO and founder of the consulting company Saryga (France). Prior to this role, Gaëlle was Statistical Methodologist at Servier until December 2021. With more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry (Servier, Novartis) and a strong and long-lasting collaboration with academia, Gaëlle Saint-Hilary is an expert in Bayesian statistics and decision-making support. She has worked at developing novel approaches to improve drug development’s performances, and her main scientific interests are quantitative decision-making, benefit-risk assessment, innovative study designs and historical data.
Sebastian Weber
Sebastian Weber is working as Director in the Department of Advanced Methodology and Data Science at Novartis. He holds a PhD in Physics from the TU Darmstadt and joined Novartis 8+ years ago. He has worked extensively on enabling the use of historical (control) information in clinical trials through consulting and working on tools to facilitate the application of historical control information from trial design to analysis. Furthermore, Sebastian has experience in designing Oncology phase I dose-escalation trails and is also involved in pediatric drug development programs, where he applies extrapolation concepts. His research interests include the application of pharmacometrics in statistics, model-based drug development and application of Bayesian methods for drug development.
Disclaimer
PSI is a non-profit organisation run by volunteers. Many of the event organisers and presenters donate their time, while the majority of the event registration cost is spent on administrative support, venue rental / online conferencing, travel costs for the presenter, software licences, and general running of the society. PSI strives to offer high quality courses, but cannot offer a guarantee that the content presented is accurate or fit for your particular needs. Please check if any software is required for this course and ensure you are able to run it prior to registering.
Cancellation and Moderation Terms For cancellations received up to two weeks prior to a PSI event start-date, the event registration fee will be refunded less 25% administrative charge. After this date, no refunds will be possible. A handling fee of 20 GBP per registration will be charged for every registration modification received two weeks prior or less, including a delegate name change.
Training Courses
PSI Training Course: Use of Historical Data in Clinical Trials: An Evidence Synthesis Approach
Date: Monday 24th - Thursday 27th January 2022 Time: Lectures 09:00-12:00 on the 24th & 27th. Separate forum setup for practical exercises between the 24th-26th. Speakers: Sebastian Weber and Gaëlle Saint-Hilary
Who is this event intended for? All statisticians working on clinical trials, with a basic knowledge of R. Some notions of Bayesian statistics could be helpful. What is the benefit of attending? Attendees will have the chance to cover; Bayesian Dynamic Borrowing designs based on the meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model; Design planning, operating characteristics, statistical analysis; and Applications using the R package RBesT.
Course Cost
Regular Members = £340+VAT Regular Non-Members = £465*+VAT
*Please note: Non-Member rates include PSI membership until 31 Dec. 2022.
There is an intrinsic interest of leveraging all available information for an efficient design and analysis of clinical trials. Including external data in the analysis of clinical trials may increase study power or allow for the reduction of (usually) the control group sample size. The use of external data in trials are nowadays used in earlier phases of drug development (Trippa, Rosnerand Muller, 2012; French, Thomas and Wang, 2012; Hueber et al., 2012; Smith et al., 2019), occasionally in phase III trials (French et al., 2012; Viele et al., 2018), and also in special areas such as medical devices (FDA, 2010a), orphan indications (Dupont and Van Wilder, 2011) and extrapolation in pediatric studies (Berry, 1989; Best et al., 2019). This allows adequately powered trials at smaller sample sizes leading to faster trial conduct and exposure of fewer patients to a potentially in-effective control treatment.
In this short course, we will provide a statistical framework to incorporate external information into a trial. During the first part of the course, we will introduce Bayesian Dynamic Borrowing designs based on the meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model (Neuenschwander et al., 2010). The MAP model is a Bayesian hierarchical model, which combines the evidence from different potentially heterogeneous sources. Dynamic borrowing permits to limit the use of historical data when it is incompatible with the data observed within the trial.
In the second part of the course, we will propose a practice session with applications using the R package RBesT, the R Bayesian evidence synthesis tools, which are freely available from CRAN. These exercises will enable participants to apply the presented approach themselves. During third and last part of the course, more advanced topics will be detailed such as effective and maximum sample sizes, advanced operating characteristics, and probability of success.
Agenda
Lecture session 1 (morning of Monday 24th January (09:00-12:00))
• Meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model
• Robustification for dynamic borrowing
• Design planning, operating characteristics
• Final analysis Practice sessions (afternoon of Monday 24th, all day Tuesday 25th, all day Wednesday 26th)
• Supervised homework, set-up in a separate forum Lecture session 2 (morning of Thursday 27th January (09:00-12:00))
• Effective sample size, maximum sample size
• Advanced operating characteristics
• Equivalence between MAP and MAC (Meta-analysis combined)
• Probability of success, decision rule
Speaker details
Speaker
Biography
Gaëlle Saint-Hilary
Gaëlle Saint-Hilary is Statistical Methodologist, CEO and founder of the consulting company Saryga (France). Prior to this role, Gaëlle was Statistical Methodologist at Servier until December 2021. With more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry (Servier, Novartis) and a strong and long-lasting collaboration with academia, Gaëlle Saint-Hilary is an expert in Bayesian statistics and decision-making support. She has worked at developing novel approaches to improve drug development’s performances, and her main scientific interests are quantitative decision-making, benefit-risk assessment, innovative study designs and historical data.
Sebastian Weber
Sebastian Weber is working as Director in the Department of Advanced Methodology and Data Science at Novartis. He holds a PhD in Physics from the TU Darmstadt and joined Novartis 8+ years ago. He has worked extensively on enabling the use of historical (control) information in clinical trials through consulting and working on tools to facilitate the application of historical control information from trial design to analysis. Furthermore, Sebastian has experience in designing Oncology phase I dose-escalation trails and is also involved in pediatric drug development programs, where he applies extrapolation concepts. His research interests include the application of pharmacometrics in statistics, model-based drug development and application of Bayesian methods for drug development.
Disclaimer
PSI is a non-profit organisation run by volunteers. Many of the event organisers and presenters donate their time, while the majority of the event registration cost is spent on administrative support, venue rental / online conferencing, travel costs for the presenter, software licences, and general running of the society. PSI strives to offer high quality courses, but cannot offer a guarantee that the content presented is accurate or fit for your particular needs. Please check if any software is required for this course and ensure you are able to run it prior to registering.
Cancellation and Moderation Terms For cancellations received up to two weeks prior to a PSI event start-date, the event registration fee will be refunded less 25% administrative charge. After this date, no refunds will be possible. A handling fee of 20 GBP per registration will be charged for every registration modification received two weeks prior or less, including a delegate name change.
Journal Club
PSI Training Course: Use of Historical Data in Clinical Trials: An Evidence Synthesis Approach
Date: Monday 24th - Thursday 27th January 2022 Time: Lectures 09:00-12:00 on the 24th & 27th. Separate forum setup for practical exercises between the 24th-26th. Speakers: Sebastian Weber and Gaëlle Saint-Hilary
Who is this event intended for? All statisticians working on clinical trials, with a basic knowledge of R. Some notions of Bayesian statistics could be helpful. What is the benefit of attending? Attendees will have the chance to cover; Bayesian Dynamic Borrowing designs based on the meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model; Design planning, operating characteristics, statistical analysis; and Applications using the R package RBesT.
Course Cost
Regular Members = £340+VAT Regular Non-Members = £465*+VAT
*Please note: Non-Member rates include PSI membership until 31 Dec. 2022.
There is an intrinsic interest of leveraging all available information for an efficient design and analysis of clinical trials. Including external data in the analysis of clinical trials may increase study power or allow for the reduction of (usually) the control group sample size. The use of external data in trials are nowadays used in earlier phases of drug development (Trippa, Rosnerand Muller, 2012; French, Thomas and Wang, 2012; Hueber et al., 2012; Smith et al., 2019), occasionally in phase III trials (French et al., 2012; Viele et al., 2018), and also in special areas such as medical devices (FDA, 2010a), orphan indications (Dupont and Van Wilder, 2011) and extrapolation in pediatric studies (Berry, 1989; Best et al., 2019). This allows adequately powered trials at smaller sample sizes leading to faster trial conduct and exposure of fewer patients to a potentially in-effective control treatment.
In this short course, we will provide a statistical framework to incorporate external information into a trial. During the first part of the course, we will introduce Bayesian Dynamic Borrowing designs based on the meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model (Neuenschwander et al., 2010). The MAP model is a Bayesian hierarchical model, which combines the evidence from different potentially heterogeneous sources. Dynamic borrowing permits to limit the use of historical data when it is incompatible with the data observed within the trial.
In the second part of the course, we will propose a practice session with applications using the R package RBesT, the R Bayesian evidence synthesis tools, which are freely available from CRAN. These exercises will enable participants to apply the presented approach themselves. During third and last part of the course, more advanced topics will be detailed such as effective and maximum sample sizes, advanced operating characteristics, and probability of success.
Agenda
Lecture session 1 (morning of Monday 24th January (09:00-12:00))
• Meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model
• Robustification for dynamic borrowing
• Design planning, operating characteristics
• Final analysis Practice sessions (afternoon of Monday 24th, all day Tuesday 25th, all day Wednesday 26th)
• Supervised homework, set-up in a separate forum Lecture session 2 (morning of Thursday 27th January (09:00-12:00))
• Effective sample size, maximum sample size
• Advanced operating characteristics
• Equivalence between MAP and MAC (Meta-analysis combined)
• Probability of success, decision rule
Speaker details
Speaker
Biography
Gaëlle Saint-Hilary
Gaëlle Saint-Hilary is Statistical Methodologist, CEO and founder of the consulting company Saryga (France). Prior to this role, Gaëlle was Statistical Methodologist at Servier until December 2021. With more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry (Servier, Novartis) and a strong and long-lasting collaboration with academia, Gaëlle Saint-Hilary is an expert in Bayesian statistics and decision-making support. She has worked at developing novel approaches to improve drug development’s performances, and her main scientific interests are quantitative decision-making, benefit-risk assessment, innovative study designs and historical data.
Sebastian Weber
Sebastian Weber is working as Director in the Department of Advanced Methodology and Data Science at Novartis. He holds a PhD in Physics from the TU Darmstadt and joined Novartis 8+ years ago. He has worked extensively on enabling the use of historical (control) information in clinical trials through consulting and working on tools to facilitate the application of historical control information from trial design to analysis. Furthermore, Sebastian has experience in designing Oncology phase I dose-escalation trails and is also involved in pediatric drug development programs, where he applies extrapolation concepts. His research interests include the application of pharmacometrics in statistics, model-based drug development and application of Bayesian methods for drug development.
Disclaimer
PSI is a non-profit organisation run by volunteers. Many of the event organisers and presenters donate their time, while the majority of the event registration cost is spent on administrative support, venue rental / online conferencing, travel costs for the presenter, software licences, and general running of the society. PSI strives to offer high quality courses, but cannot offer a guarantee that the content presented is accurate or fit for your particular needs. Please check if any software is required for this course and ensure you are able to run it prior to registering.
Cancellation and Moderation Terms For cancellations received up to two weeks prior to a PSI event start-date, the event registration fee will be refunded less 25% administrative charge. After this date, no refunds will be possible. A handling fee of 20 GBP per registration will be charged for every registration modification received two weeks prior or less, including a delegate name change.
Webinars
PSI Training Course: Use of Historical Data in Clinical Trials: An Evidence Synthesis Approach
Date: Monday 24th - Thursday 27th January 2022 Time: Lectures 09:00-12:00 on the 24th & 27th. Separate forum setup for practical exercises between the 24th-26th. Speakers: Sebastian Weber and Gaëlle Saint-Hilary
Who is this event intended for? All statisticians working on clinical trials, with a basic knowledge of R. Some notions of Bayesian statistics could be helpful. What is the benefit of attending? Attendees will have the chance to cover; Bayesian Dynamic Borrowing designs based on the meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model; Design planning, operating characteristics, statistical analysis; and Applications using the R package RBesT.
Course Cost
Regular Members = £340+VAT Regular Non-Members = £465*+VAT
*Please note: Non-Member rates include PSI membership until 31 Dec. 2022.
There is an intrinsic interest of leveraging all available information for an efficient design and analysis of clinical trials. Including external data in the analysis of clinical trials may increase study power or allow for the reduction of (usually) the control group sample size. The use of external data in trials are nowadays used in earlier phases of drug development (Trippa, Rosnerand Muller, 2012; French, Thomas and Wang, 2012; Hueber et al., 2012; Smith et al., 2019), occasionally in phase III trials (French et al., 2012; Viele et al., 2018), and also in special areas such as medical devices (FDA, 2010a), orphan indications (Dupont and Van Wilder, 2011) and extrapolation in pediatric studies (Berry, 1989; Best et al., 2019). This allows adequately powered trials at smaller sample sizes leading to faster trial conduct and exposure of fewer patients to a potentially in-effective control treatment.
In this short course, we will provide a statistical framework to incorporate external information into a trial. During the first part of the course, we will introduce Bayesian Dynamic Borrowing designs based on the meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model (Neuenschwander et al., 2010). The MAP model is a Bayesian hierarchical model, which combines the evidence from different potentially heterogeneous sources. Dynamic borrowing permits to limit the use of historical data when it is incompatible with the data observed within the trial.
In the second part of the course, we will propose a practice session with applications using the R package RBesT, the R Bayesian evidence synthesis tools, which are freely available from CRAN. These exercises will enable participants to apply the presented approach themselves. During third and last part of the course, more advanced topics will be detailed such as effective and maximum sample sizes, advanced operating characteristics, and probability of success.
Agenda
Lecture session 1 (morning of Monday 24th January (09:00-12:00))
• Meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model
• Robustification for dynamic borrowing
• Design planning, operating characteristics
• Final analysis Practice sessions (afternoon of Monday 24th, all day Tuesday 25th, all day Wednesday 26th)
• Supervised homework, set-up in a separate forum Lecture session 2 (morning of Thursday 27th January (09:00-12:00))
• Effective sample size, maximum sample size
• Advanced operating characteristics
• Equivalence between MAP and MAC (Meta-analysis combined)
• Probability of success, decision rule
Speaker details
Speaker
Biography
Gaëlle Saint-Hilary
Gaëlle Saint-Hilary is Statistical Methodologist, CEO and founder of the consulting company Saryga (France). Prior to this role, Gaëlle was Statistical Methodologist at Servier until December 2021. With more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry (Servier, Novartis) and a strong and long-lasting collaboration with academia, Gaëlle Saint-Hilary is an expert in Bayesian statistics and decision-making support. She has worked at developing novel approaches to improve drug development’s performances, and her main scientific interests are quantitative decision-making, benefit-risk assessment, innovative study designs and historical data.
Sebastian Weber
Sebastian Weber is working as Director in the Department of Advanced Methodology and Data Science at Novartis. He holds a PhD in Physics from the TU Darmstadt and joined Novartis 8+ years ago. He has worked extensively on enabling the use of historical (control) information in clinical trials through consulting and working on tools to facilitate the application of historical control information from trial design to analysis. Furthermore, Sebastian has experience in designing Oncology phase I dose-escalation trails and is also involved in pediatric drug development programs, where he applies extrapolation concepts. His research interests include the application of pharmacometrics in statistics, model-based drug development and application of Bayesian methods for drug development.
Disclaimer
PSI is a non-profit organisation run by volunteers. Many of the event organisers and presenters donate their time, while the majority of the event registration cost is spent on administrative support, venue rental / online conferencing, travel costs for the presenter, software licences, and general running of the society. PSI strives to offer high quality courses, but cannot offer a guarantee that the content presented is accurate or fit for your particular needs. Please check if any software is required for this course and ensure you are able to run it prior to registering.
Cancellation and Moderation Terms For cancellations received up to two weeks prior to a PSI event start-date, the event registration fee will be refunded less 25% administrative charge. After this date, no refunds will be possible. A handling fee of 20 GBP per registration will be charged for every registration modification received two weeks prior or less, including a delegate name change.
Careers Meetings
PSI Training Course: Use of Historical Data in Clinical Trials: An Evidence Synthesis Approach
Date: Monday 24th - Thursday 27th January 2022 Time: Lectures 09:00-12:00 on the 24th & 27th. Separate forum setup for practical exercises between the 24th-26th. Speakers: Sebastian Weber and Gaëlle Saint-Hilary
Who is this event intended for? All statisticians working on clinical trials, with a basic knowledge of R. Some notions of Bayesian statistics could be helpful. What is the benefit of attending? Attendees will have the chance to cover; Bayesian Dynamic Borrowing designs based on the meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model; Design planning, operating characteristics, statistical analysis; and Applications using the R package RBesT.
Course Cost
Regular Members = £340+VAT Regular Non-Members = £465*+VAT
*Please note: Non-Member rates include PSI membership until 31 Dec. 2022.
There is an intrinsic interest of leveraging all available information for an efficient design and analysis of clinical trials. Including external data in the analysis of clinical trials may increase study power or allow for the reduction of (usually) the control group sample size. The use of external data in trials are nowadays used in earlier phases of drug development (Trippa, Rosnerand Muller, 2012; French, Thomas and Wang, 2012; Hueber et al., 2012; Smith et al., 2019), occasionally in phase III trials (French et al., 2012; Viele et al., 2018), and also in special areas such as medical devices (FDA, 2010a), orphan indications (Dupont and Van Wilder, 2011) and extrapolation in pediatric studies (Berry, 1989; Best et al., 2019). This allows adequately powered trials at smaller sample sizes leading to faster trial conduct and exposure of fewer patients to a potentially in-effective control treatment.
In this short course, we will provide a statistical framework to incorporate external information into a trial. During the first part of the course, we will introduce Bayesian Dynamic Borrowing designs based on the meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model (Neuenschwander et al., 2010). The MAP model is a Bayesian hierarchical model, which combines the evidence from different potentially heterogeneous sources. Dynamic borrowing permits to limit the use of historical data when it is incompatible with the data observed within the trial.
In the second part of the course, we will propose a practice session with applications using the R package RBesT, the R Bayesian evidence synthesis tools, which are freely available from CRAN. These exercises will enable participants to apply the presented approach themselves. During third and last part of the course, more advanced topics will be detailed such as effective and maximum sample sizes, advanced operating characteristics, and probability of success.
Agenda
Lecture session 1 (morning of Monday 24th January (09:00-12:00))
• Meta-analytic predictive (MAP) model
• Robustification for dynamic borrowing
• Design planning, operating characteristics
• Final analysis Practice sessions (afternoon of Monday 24th, all day Tuesday 25th, all day Wednesday 26th)
• Supervised homework, set-up in a separate forum Lecture session 2 (morning of Thursday 27th January (09:00-12:00))
• Effective sample size, maximum sample size
• Advanced operating characteristics
• Equivalence between MAP and MAC (Meta-analysis combined)
• Probability of success, decision rule
Speaker details
Speaker
Biography
Gaëlle Saint-Hilary
Gaëlle Saint-Hilary is Statistical Methodologist, CEO and founder of the consulting company Saryga (France). Prior to this role, Gaëlle was Statistical Methodologist at Servier until December 2021. With more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry (Servier, Novartis) and a strong and long-lasting collaboration with academia, Gaëlle Saint-Hilary is an expert in Bayesian statistics and decision-making support. She has worked at developing novel approaches to improve drug development’s performances, and her main scientific interests are quantitative decision-making, benefit-risk assessment, innovative study designs and historical data.
Sebastian Weber
Sebastian Weber is working as Director in the Department of Advanced Methodology and Data Science at Novartis. He holds a PhD in Physics from the TU Darmstadt and joined Novartis 8+ years ago. He has worked extensively on enabling the use of historical (control) information in clinical trials through consulting and working on tools to facilitate the application of historical control information from trial design to analysis. Furthermore, Sebastian has experience in designing Oncology phase I dose-escalation trails and is also involved in pediatric drug development programs, where he applies extrapolation concepts. His research interests include the application of pharmacometrics in statistics, model-based drug development and application of Bayesian methods for drug development.
Disclaimer
PSI is a non-profit organisation run by volunteers. Many of the event organisers and presenters donate their time, while the majority of the event registration cost is spent on administrative support, venue rental / online conferencing, travel costs for the presenter, software licences, and general running of the society. PSI strives to offer high quality courses, but cannot offer a guarantee that the content presented is accurate or fit for your particular needs. Please check if any software is required for this course and ensure you are able to run it prior to registering.
Cancellation and Moderation Terms For cancellations received up to two weeks prior to a PSI event start-date, the event registration fee will be refunded less 25% administrative charge. After this date, no refunds will be possible. A handling fee of 20 GBP per registration will be charged for every registration modification received two weeks prior or less, including a delegate name change.
Upcoming Events
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.
Date: Ongoing 6 month cycle beginning late April/early May 2026
Are you a member of PSI looking to further your career or help develop others - why not sign up to the PSI Mentoring scheme? You can expand your network, improve your leadership skills and learn from more senior colleagues in the industry.
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.
PSI Training Course: Effective Leadership – the keys to growing your leadership capabilities
This course will consist of three online half-day workshops. The first will be aimed at building trust, the backbone of leadership and a key to becoming effective. This is key to building a solid foundation.
The second will be on improving communication as a technical leader. This workshop will focus on communication strategies for different stakeholders and will involve tips on effective communication and how to develop the skills of active listening, coaching and what improv can teach us about good communication.
The final workshop will bring these two components together to help leaders become more influential. This will also focus on how to use Steven Covey’s 7-Habits, in particular Habits 4, 5 and 6, which are called the habits of communication.
The workshops will be interactive, allowing you to practice the concepts discussed. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion. There will also be reflective time where you can think about what you are learning and how you might experiment with it.