Novel statistical approaches for basket trials in ageing-related diseases

Aim
The aim of my research will be to investigate new statistical methods for the analysis of basket
trials, with a focus on chronic ageing related diseases. For example, there is a need for
innovative trial methods to be developed for Immune Mediated Inflammatory Diseases
(IMIDs). IMIDs consist of many distinct conditions that share common inflammatory 6
pathways, and since many develop later in life, are increasing as the world population ages.
Novel approaches to trial design and analysis could lead to substantial savings in time, money,
and resources, since a large proportion of IMID patients fail to respond to treatment or
eventually relapse after successful treatment (Grayling et al., 2021). Within the basket trial
framework, it could be possible to design an efficient study to investigate a particular
treatment across a wide variety of IMIDs.
Objectives
1. Develop novel Bayesian methods to borrow information between subtrials within a
longitudinal basket study.
2. To assess the implications on the statistical properties of typical analyses and
propose better analytical methods, in the case where patients are eligible for
multiple sub-trials, or there is potential misclassification of patients.
3. Develop novel methods for controlling the error rate when sharing information
between subtrials