Safety-Driven Response Adaptive Randomisation: An Application in Non-inferiority Oncology Trials

TL;DR

This paper introduces SAFER, a response adaptive randomisation method that uses early safety data to guide treatment allocation in oncology non-inferiority trials, addressing delays in efficacy outcome observation.

Contribution

SAFER is a novel RAR design that incorporates safety data to improve treatment allocation decisions in trials with delayed efficacy outcomes, especially in oncology.

Findings

SAFER maintains statistical power in simulations.

SAFER reduces adverse event rates.

SAFER adapts flexibly to endpoint timing.

Abstract

The majority of response-adaptive randomisation (RAR) designs in the literature rely on efficacy data to guide dynamic patient allocation. However, their applicability becomes limited in settings where efficacy outcomes, such as survival, are observed with a random delay. To address this limitation, we introduce SAFER, a novel RAR design that leverages early-emerging safety data to inform treatment allocation decisions, particularly in oncology trials. The design is broadly applicable to contexts where prioritizing the arm with a superior safety is desirable. This is especially relevant in non-inferiority trials, to demonstrate that an experimental treatment is not inferior to the standard of care, while potentially offering improved tolerability. In such trials, an unavoidable trade-off arises: maintaining statistical efficiency for the efficacy hypothesis while integrating safety-driven adaptations through RAR. The SAFER design addresses this trade-off by dynamically adjusting the allocation proportion based on the observed association between safety and efficacy endpoints. We illustrate the performance of SAFER through a simulation study inspired by the CAPP-IT Phase III oncology trial. Results show that SAFER preserves statistical power, reduces the adverse event rate, and offers flexible adaptation speed depending on the temporal alignment of the endpoints.