Bradford Hill Seminar – Designing efficient clinical trials during a pandemic

Wed 23 November 2022

MRC Biostatistics Unit

Clinical trials are the gold standard when evaluating the potential of a novel treatment, a standard that should not be compromised during a pandemic. At the same time, there are unique challenges in conducting studies in a novel disease, such as COVID-19, and developing novel treatments during a major outbreak of the disease. For example the limited understanding of the natural history of the disease makes it difficult to choose the primary endpoint for a study while potentially highly volatile number of infections makes it difficult to determine the rate and ability to recruit. In this talk Professor Jaki will discuss some of the key issues in designing clinical trials during a pandemic and reflect on his experiences with COVID-19 trials.

Thomas Jaki is Professor of Computational Statistics at the University of Regensburg and MRC Professor of Statistics and Programme Leader in the DART theme at the MRC Biostatistics Unit. His work focuses on developing and evaluating novel statistical methods for clinical studies. These methods are adapted for specific applications to ensure they can be used in the pharmaceutical industry and also in public sector research institutions. His current research focuses on model-based dose-finding trials as well as Master protocols.

Following the seminar, Professor Jaki will be available for a Q&A session with audience members, from 2 – 2.30pm.

Please note this will be a hybrid seminar, with the option to attend in-person (East Forvie Building, Forvie Site, Robinson Way, Cambridge CB2 0SR) or virtually (via Zoom). When registering, please select the relevant ticket option.