Sequential design for binary dose-response experiments

In dose-response studies, experinients are often carried out according to optimal designs for the purpose of accurately determining a specific effective dose (ED) level. If the interest is in the dose-response relationship over a range of ED levels, the existing optimal designs is misaligned. In this paper, we propose a two-stage sequential ED-design for this purpose. We use a small number of trials to provide a tentative estimation of the parameters. The dose levels of the subsequent trials are then selected sequentially, based on the latest model information, to maximize the efficiency of the ED estimation over several ED levels. Simulations indicate that the proposed design compares favorably with existing designs under various scenarios. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.