gms | German Medical Science

Background: Statistical optimal design theory is well developed, but almost never used in toxicological practice. Main reason for this is the inaccesability of statistical design theory to practical experimenters.

Methods: For the context of dose response trials we therefore present an R-shiny based web application which calculates D-optimal designs for the most commonly fitted dose response functions, namely the log-logistic and the Weibull function. Furthermore, the application also allows checking the efficiencies of user specified designs and provides a graphical representation of the design space. In addition, uncertainty in regard to the assumptions about the true parameters can be included in the form of average optimal designs.

Finally, the script also computes designs for substance interaction trials between two substances combined in a ray design setup, including an a-priori estimate for the parameters of the combination under the (Loewe-) additivity assumption.

Conclusion: Using the web app, the user can find a design which is a compromise between rigid optimality and more practical designs which also incorporate user preferences and practical requirements.

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

The authors declare that an ethics committee vote is not required.