An adaptive, dose-finding, seamless phase 2/3 study of a long-acting glucagon-like peptide-1 analog (dulaglutide): trial design and baseline characteristics.

Dulaglutide (dula, LY2189265) is a once-weekly glucagon-like peptide-1 analog in development for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. An adaptive, dose-finding, inferentially seamless phase 2/3 study was designed to support the development of this novel diabetes therapeutic. The study is divided into two stages based on two randomization schemes: a Bayesian adaptive scheme (stage 1) and a fixed scheme (stage 2). Stage 1 of the trial employs an adaptive, dose-finding design to lead to a dula dose-selection decision or early study termination due to futility. If dose selection occurs, the study proceeds to stage 2 to allow continued evaluation of the selected dula doses. At completion, the entire study will serve as a confirmatory phase 3 trial. The final study design is discussed, along with specifics pertaining to the actual execution of this study and selected baseline characteristics of the participants.