ECTRIMS 2021 | Advancing analysis strategies to handle complex data from MS clinical trials

Carmen Tur, MD, PhD, Multiple Sclerosis Centre of Catalonia (Cemcat), Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, discusses the importance of developing new analysis strategies to handle increasingly complex data coming from multiple sclerosis (MS) trials. The range of outcomes used in clinical trials is widening rapidly as our understanding of the biological underpinnings of disease increases and thus, analysis strategies must develop at the same pace. Conventional univariate models have been used in the vast majority of MS trials to date. Dr Tur talks on the potential benefit of multivariate modelling in MS. Multivariate analysis enables the simultaneous study of several variables, providing more in-depth information and reducing measurement error. These methods have not been used in MS trials and a greater understanding of the various relationships among variables is needed. This interview took place at the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) congress 2021.