At the start of October, lots of the Unit’s clinical trials methodology researchers travelled to Edinburgh, for the 7th International Clinical Trials Methodology Conference (ICTMC). ICTMC is the largest academic-led conference on clinical trials, bringing together trialists from across the globe to present their latest work in trials methodology. This year's conference featured a wide variety of workshops, talks and poster presentations from MRC Clinical Trials Unit researchers. I

n this latest episode of the Trial Talk podcast, four of the Unit’s early career researchers discuss the work they presented at ICTMC 2024. Gideon Darko Asamoah tells us how he will deliver a core outcome set for trials in severe malaria; Jingyi Xuan describes her project addressing intercurrent events in platform trials; Dongquan Bi discusses the effects of different cluster sizes in cluster trials; and finally, Kate Roberts explains how she aims to improve the wording around consent for accessing trial participants' healthcare records.

For questions or feedback on the series, message us at mrcctu.engage@ucl.ac.uk
For more information and to access the transcript: bit.ly/4f9grVi
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More resources:
• Developing a core outcome set for severe malaria trials poster: www.mrcctu.ucl.ac.uk/posters/identi…nd-caregivers/
• Specifying estimands and estimators in trials with complex designs poster: www.mrcctu.ucl.ac.uk/posters/specif…mplex-designs/
• Demystifying estimands in cluster-randomised trials paper in Statistical Methods in Medical Research: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09622802241254197
• Estimands in cluster-randomised trials paper in International Journal of Epidemiology: academic.oup.com/ije/article/52/1/107/6644521
• Current practice around the use of estimands in cluster randomised trials, and the impact of informative cluster size on inference poster: www.mrcctu.ucl.ac.uk/posters/curren…on-inferences/
• ICTMC 2024 Poster 167 – A rap song (Lyrics by Dongquan Bi, beat by David Fitzgerald): youtu.be/s7qZ5TnOlWU?si=iXwfFfSAWwJ-fAmk
• CrossWord poster: www.mrcctu.ucl.ac.uk/posters/crossw…ing-materials/

Date of episode recording: 2024-10-30T00:00:00Z
Duration: 00:25:09
Language of episode: English
Presenter:Charlotte Hartley
Guests: Gideon Darko Asamoah, Jingyi Xuan, Donguan Bi, Kate Roberts
Producer: Charlotte Hartley

In September 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) released new guidance on preventative treatment for tuberculosis (TB). Thanks to new evidence from two randomised controlled clinical trials, the WHO now recommends that contacts of people with multidrug-resistant TB take six months of daily levofloxacin. In this episode of the Trial Talk podcast, we find out more about the TB-CHAMP and VQUIN trials. We also learn how the teams came together to combine their data and strengthen their evidence, using new statistical methodologies developed at the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL. The episode features interviews with Anneke Hesseling, Principal Investigator for TB-CHAMP, based at Stellenbosch University, and Trinh Duong, based at the MRC CTU at UCL, the trial statistician for TB-CHAMP and lead for the combined data analysis with VQUIN.

For questions or feedback on the series, message us at mrcctu.engage@ucl.ac.uk

For more information and to access the transcript: bit.ly/3XTf8na

As a listener, your opinion is very valuable to us. Please help us to improve the podcast in future by filling in this short survey: forms.office.com/e/PjfjQ5Mn6g

Date of episode recording: 2024-09-23
Duration: 00:32:50
Language of episode: English
Presenter: Charlotte Hartley
Guests: Anneke Hesseling, Trinh Duong
Producer: Charlotte Hartley

Optimisation immunotherapy clinical trials investigate ways of reducing the intensity of immunotherapy cancer treatment. This could be beneficial for patients’ quality of life. But these trials can be challenging to run, as patients may be concerned about the impact that reducing the intensity of treatment could have on the cancer.

This episode of the Trial Talk podcast focuses on the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL’s OPTIC study, which explores how people with cancer feel about taking part in optimisation immunotherapy trials. Clinical Fellow Sophie Merrick discusses the main barriers that patients face and recommendations to address them.

Resources:
•OPTIC study page: www.mrcctu.ucl.ac.uk/studies/all-st…/refine/optic/
•OPTIC results paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41416-024-02756-x.pdf
•REFINE podcast episode: on.soundcloud.com/Fe3C76csHkgCg2or5

For questions or feedback on the series, message us at mrcctu.engage@ucl.ac.uk

For more information and to access the transcript: bit.ly/4c9SfAr

As a listener, your opinion is very valuable to us. Please help us to improve the podcast in future by filling in this short survey: forms.office.com/e/PjfjQ5Mn6g

Date of episode recording: 2024-06-18T00:00:00Z
Duration: 00:25:23
Language of episode: English
Presenter: Berta Terre-Torras
Guests: Sophie Merrick
Producer: Berta Terre-Torras