Developing new drugs: less chance, more precision

Share:
About the research

With the flip of a coin. That's basically how new drugs are tested. Patients are randomly divided into two groups: group A (cup) gets the drug, group B (coin) gets a placebo. By relying on chance, you get two similar groups, containing, for example, roughly equal numbers of women and elderly people. If the tests then lead to different results, they are probably attributable to the drug.

Surely, Kelly Van Lancker (UGent) thought, it must be possible to do this more reliably. So she uses a statistical method that allows her to generate up to twice as many test measurements. This makes for more accurate tests and can also speed up drug development, reduce the number of tests on patients by a quarter, and thus firmly reduce costs.

Health
Kelly Van Lancker
UGent

Kelly Van Lancker, a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University, has always been fascinated by the power of numbers. With a background in mathematics, she now dedicates her expertise to applying statistics in clinical studies. She is particularly interested in refining statistical methods in clinical trials, to minimize patient exposure to ineffective treatments. Her work is driven by the belief that better statistics can lead to better healthcare outcomes for everyone.

Related videos