Development
Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2009); 86, 1, 105–108 doi:10.1038/clpt.2009.71
The Clinical Utility Index as a Practical Multiattribute Approach to Drug Development Decisions
B Poland1, FL Hodge1, A Khan2, RT Clemen3, JA Wagner2, K Dykstra1 and R Krishna2
- 1Pharsight Corporation, Strategic Consulting Services, Mountain View, California, USA
- 2Merck & Co., Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, USA
- 3Duke University Fuqua School of Business, Durham, North Carolina, USA
Correspondence: R Krishna, (rajesh_krishna@merck.com)
Received 4 February 2009; Accepted 6 April 2009; Published online 20 May 2009.
Abstract
We identify some innovative approaches to predicting overall patient benefit from investigational drugs to support development decisions. We then illustrate calculation of a probabilistic clinical utility index (CUI), an implementation of multiattribute utility that focuses on clinical attributes. We recommend use of the CUI for the support of early drug development decisions because of its practicality, reasonable accuracy, and transparency to decision makers, at stages in which financial factors that may dominate later-phase decisions are less critical.
