Group Sequential Methods and Software Applications

Group sequential methods are commonly used in clinical trials as they allow valid inference when statistical tests are performed on accumulating data from ongoing trials. Several software applications have become available to meet the computational need for group sequential trial design and monitoring. This article summarizes four software applications: EAST® v5.2, ADDPLAN® v5.0, the gsDesign package v2.3 in R©, and the SEQDESIGN and SEQTEST procedures in SAS® v9.2. The capabilities and special features of the software applications are illustrated and compared through practical examples. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.

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