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Novel Trial Designs for Early Phase Drug Development. CNIO Frontiers Meeting Molecular Cancer Therapeutics March 8-10, 2010 Madrid. Elizabeth Garrett-Mayer, PhD Associate Professor Director of Biostatistics Hollings Cancer Center Medical University of South Carolina. Phase I trial goals.
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Novel Trial Designs for Early Phase Drug Development CNIO Frontiers Meeting Molecular Cancer Therapeutics March 8-10, 2010 Madrid Elizabeth Garrett-Mayer, PhD Associate Professor Director of Biostatistics Hollings Cancer Center Medical University of South Carolina
Phase I trial goals • Classic Phase I trials: • Find the highest dose that is deemed safe: the Maximum Tolerated Dose (MTD) • DLT = dose limiting toxicity • Goal is to find the highest dose that has a DLT rate of x% or less (usually ranges from 20% to 40%) • Newer Phase I trials: • Find the dose that is considered to safe and have optimal biologic/immunologic effect (OBD). • Goal is to optimize “biomarker” response within safety constraints.
Schematic of Classic Phase I Trial 100 % Toxicity 33 . . . mtd 0 d1 d2 Dose 3
Based on Presumption: Efficacy and toxicity both increase with dose DLT = dose- limiting toxicity
Classic Phase I approach: Algorithmic Designs • “3+3” or “3 by 3” • Prespecify a set of doses to consider, usually between 3 and 10 doses. • MTD is considered highest dose at which 1 or 0 out of six patients experiences DLT. • Confidence in MTD is usually poor. • Treat 3 patients at dose K • If 0 patients experience DLT, escalate to dose K+1 • If 2 or more patients experience DLT, de-escalate to level K-1 • If 1 patient experiences DLT, treat 3 more patients at dose level K • If 1 of 6 experiences DLT, escalate to dose level K+1 • If 2 or more of 6 experiences DLT, de-escalate to level K-1
Some properties of the “3+3” What can you learn from 3 patients at a single dose? What is the 95% exact c.i. for the probability of toxicity at a given dose if you observe • 0/3 toxicities at that dose? ( 0, 0.64) • 1/3 toxicities at that dose? (0.09, 0.91) • 2/3 toxicities at that dose? (0.29, 0.99) • 3/3 toxicities at that dose? (0.36, 1.00)
Even if dose level 5 corresponds exactly to a DLT rate of 0.30, the chance that this particular trial will ever reach it is only 32%. The chance of correctly concluding dose level 5 is the MTD is 16%.
“Novel” Phase I approaches • Continual reassessment method (CRM) (O’Quigley et al., Biometrics 1990) • Many changes and updates in 20 years • Tends to be most preferred by statisticians • Other Bayesian designs (e.g. EWOC) and model-based designs (Cheng et al., JCO, 2004, v 22) • Other improvements in algorithmic designs • Accelerated titration design (Simon et al. 1999, JNCI) • Up-down design (Storer, 1989, Biometrics)
CRM: Bayesian Adaptive Design • Dose for next patient is determined based on toxicity responses of patients previously treated in the trial • After each cohort of patients, posterior distribution is updated to give model prediction of optimal dose for a given level of toxicity(DLT rate) • Find dose that is most consistent with desired DLT rate • Modifications have been both Bayesian and non-Bayesian.
CRM Designs • Underlying mathematical model • Doses can be continuous or discrete • Compared to the ‘3+3’ the CRM is • safer: fewer patients treated at toxic doses • more accurate: selected MTD is closer to the true MTD • more efficient: more patients are treated at doses near the MTD. • Disadvantages: • requires intensive involvement of statistician because future doses depend on model prediction • need more lead time: statisticians need time (weeks?) to select the appropriate CRM design for a given trial • simulations • need to ensure that it will “behave” in a smart way
Long-term toxicities? • CRMs and algorithmic designs take a long time to accrue, even with rapid accrual. • Investigators may be interested in toxicities over a span of one to two years. • For a study with only 15 patients with two year follow-up, “three-at-a-time” designs require 10 yearsto complete, even with perfect accrual. • Need alternatives! • Example scenario • interested in the MTD as the 20%-tile of a toxicity • requires 2 years followup (so we now have cohorts of 5, not 3).
Prorated Designs (Cheung & Chappell, 2000, Biometrics) • Instead of collecting data on a group of 5 patients for 2 years each, • Collect data on more than 5 patients for a total of 10 patient-years. • One patient measured for one year counts (is “prorated” as) 1/2 of a patient. • A Bayesian version (TIme-To-Event Continual Reassment Method, TITE-CRM, is available). • Require more patients than traditional designs, provide more information at study’s conclusion; and • Are much quicker than traditional designs (commensurate with the number of extra patients).
Accelerated Titration Design (Simon et al., 1999, JNCI) • The main distinguishing features (1) a rapid initial escalation phase (2) intra-patient dose escalation (3) analysis of results using a dose-toxicity model that incorporates info regarding toxicity and cumulative toxicity. • “Design 4:” • Begin with single patient cohorts, • double dose steps (i.e., 100% increment) per dose level. • When the first DLT is observed or the second instance of moderate toxicity is observed (in any course), the cohort for the current dose level is expanded to three patients • At that point, the trial reverts to use of the standard phase 1 design for further cohorts. • dose steps are now 40% increments.
Accelerated Titration Design • “Rapid intrapatient dose escalation … in order to reduce the number of undertreated patients [in the trials themselves] and provide a substantial increase in the information obtained.” • If a first dose does not induce toxicity, a patient may be escalated to a higher subsequent dose. • Obviously requires toxicities to be acute. • If they are, trial can be shortened.
Accelerated Titration Design • After MTD is determined, a final “confirmatory” cohort is treated at a fixed dose. • Jordan, et al. (2003) studied intrapatient escalation of carboplatin in ovarian cancer patients and found “The median MTD documented here using intrapatient dose escalation ... is remarkably similar to that derived from conventional phase I studies.” I.e., accelerated titration seems to work. Also, since it gives an MTD for each patient, it provides an idea about how MTDs vary between patients.
New paradigm: Targeted Therapy How do targeted therapies change the early phase drug development paradigm? • Not all targeted therapies have toxicity • Toxicity may not occur at all • Toxicity may not increase with dose • Targeted therapies may not reach the target of interest
Implications for Study Design • Previous assumption may not hold • Does efficacy increase with dose? • Endpoint may no longer be appropriate • Should we be looking for the MTD? • What good is phase I if the agent does not hit the target?
Possible Dose-Toxicity & Dose-Efficacy Relationships for Targeted Agent
Y = 0 if no toxicity, no efficacy = 1 if no toxicity, efficacy = 2 if toxicity Trinary outcome CRM
Adding in a pre-phase I level? Phase 0 trials • “Human micro-dosing” • First in man • Not dose finding • Proof-of-principle • Give small dose not expected to be therapeutic • Test that target is modified • Small N (10-15?) • Short term: one dose • Requires pre and post patient sampling. Usually PD assay. • Provides useful info for phase I (or if you should simply abandon agent).
Phase 0: Example Parp-inhibitor • ABT-888 administered as a single oral dose of 10, 25, or 50 mg • Goals: • determine dose range and time course over which ABT-888 inhibits PARP activity • in tumor samples • in PBMCs • To evaluate ABT-888 pharmacokinetics • Blood samples and tumor biopsies obtained pre- and postdrug for evaluation of PARP activity and PK • If patients available, trials are quick. • Exploratory Investigational New Drug (EIND) Kummar S, Kinders R, Gutierrez ME, et al.. Phase 0 clinical trial of the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor ABT-888 in patients with advanced malignancies. J Clin Oncol 2009; 27.
Phase 0: Example Parp-inhibitor • N = 13 patients with advanced malignancies • N = 9 had paired tumor biopsies
Clin Cancer Res June 15, 2008 14 • Designing Phase 0 Cancer Clinical Trials • Oncologic Phase 0 Trials Incorporating Clinical Pharmacodynamics: from Concept to Patient • A Phase 0 Trial of Riluzole in Patients with Resectable Stage III and IV Melanoma • Preclinical Modeling of a Phase 0 Clinical Trial: Qualification of a Pharmacodynamic Assay of Poly (ADP-Ribose) Polymerase in Tumor Biopsies of Mouse Xenografts • Phase 0 Trials: An Industry Perspective • The Ethics of Phase 0 Oncology Trials • Patient Perspectives on Phase 0 Clinical Trials • The Development of Phase I Cancer Trial Methodologies: the Use of Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic End Points Sets the Scene for Phase 0 Cancer Clinical Trials • Phase 0 Trials: Are They Ethically Challenged?
Article Coming out March 15 In Clinical Cancer Research Approaches to Phase 1 Clinical Trial Design Focused on Safety, Efficiency, and Selected Patient Populations: A Report from the Clinical Trial Design Task Force of the National Cancer Institute Investigational Drug Steering Committee. S. Percy Ivy, Lillian L. Siu, Elizabeth Garrett-Mayer, and Larry Rubinstein
Questions and Comments? garrettm@musc.edu