Progress in cardiovascular diseases
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Prog Cardiovasc Dis · Jan 2007
ReviewMaking sense of noninferiority: a clinical and statistical perspective on its application to cardiovascular clinical trials.
Active control noninferiority trials are being used with increasing frequency in new drug or device development when standard placebo-controlled trials are considered unethical. Nevertheless, the design and analysis of these trials are founded on a number of assumptions and arbitrary criteria that are generally not well understood or justifiable. ⋯ When conservative criteria were applied to each of the key assumptions underlying 2 representative noninferiority trials, they materially undermined the conclusions regarding noninferiority failing to confirm reported conclusions regarding noninferiority despite enthusiastic dissemination and acceptance of the results. Because the clinical, regulatory, and economic impact of active control noninferiority trials is substantial, robust criteria should be used routinely in their design, analysis, and interpretation to reach their intended objectives and to keep them from becoming wasted efforts.