r-BOIN

The Bayesian optimal interval (BOIN) design is a novel phase I clinical trial design for finding the maximum tolerated dose (MTD). It can be used to design both single-agent and drug-combination trials. The BOIN design is motivated by the top priority and concern of clinicians when testing a new drug, which is to effectively treat patients and minimize the chance of exposing them to subtherapeutic or overly toxic doses. The prominent advantage of the BOIN design is that it achieves simplicity and superior performance at the same time. The BOIN design is algorithm-based and can be implemented in a simple way similar to the traditional 3+3 design. The BOIN design yields an average performance that is comparable to that of the continual reassessment method (CRM, one of the best model-based designs) in terms of selecting the MTD, but has a substantially lower risk of assigning patients to subtherapeutic or overly toxic doses. For tutorial, please check Yan et al. (2020) <doi:10.18637/jss.v094.i13>.