Patent ID: 7840419

Claim:
A method of performing a clinical trial comprising: performing a first phase of testing comprising: randomizing participants into a first plurality of treatment groups including a first active treatment group and a first placebo group; administering the first active treatment group with an active treatment; administering the first placebo group with a placebo; analyzing the participants for response; sorting the participants, based upon the analyzing the participants for response step, by creating a first non-responders to active treatment group, a first responders to active treatment group, a first non-responders to placebo group, and a first responders to placebo group; creating a non-responder group comprising a combination of one or more members from the first non-responders to active treatment group and one or more members from the first non-responders to placebo group; performing a second phase of testing comprising: randomizing one or more members of the non-responder group into a second active treatment group and a second placebo group; administering the second active treatment group with the active treatment; administering the second placebo group with the placebo; analyzing the randomized one or more members of the non-responder group for response; analyzing, using a processor, the efficacy of the active treatment by; analyzing a response rate of the first phase of testing based on a number of participants in the first responders to active treatment group and a number of participants in the first responders to placebo group; analyzing a response rate of the second phase of testing based on a number of participants in the second active treatment group, determined based on said analyzing the randomized one or more members of the non-responder group for response step, and a number of participants in the second placebo group, also determined based on said analyzing the randomized one or more members of the non-responder group for response step; applying a first weighting factor to the response rate of the first phase of testing; applying a second weighting factor to the response rate of the second phase of testing; wherein the summation of the first and second weighting factor equals a constant; and determining the efficacy of active treatment based on a combination of the result of the step of applying a first weighting factor to the response rate of the first phase of testing and the result of the step of applying a second weighting factor to the response rate of the second phase of testing.