Design Considerations for a Phase II Platform Trial in Major Depressive Disorder

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the leading causes of disability globally. Despite its prevalence, approximately one-third of patients do not benefit sufficiently from available treatments, and few new drugs have been developed recently. Consequently, more efficient methods are needed to evaluate a broader range of treatment options quickly. Platform trials offer a promising solution, as they allow for the assessment of multiple investigational treatments simultaneously by sharing control groups and by reducing both trial activation and patient recruitment times. The objective of this simulation study was to support the design and optimisation of a phase II superiority platform trial for MDD, considering the disease-specific characteristics. In particular, we assessed the efficiency of platform trials compared to traditional two-arm trials by investigating key design elements, including allocation and randomisation strategies, as well as per-treatment arm sample sizes and interim futility analyses. Through extensive simulations, we refined these design components and evaluated their impact on trial performance. The results demonstrated that platform trials not only enhance efficiency but also achieve higher statistical power in evaluating individual treatments compared to conventional trials. The efficiency of platform trials is particularly prominent when interim futility analyses are performed to eliminate treatments that have either no or a negligible treatment effect early. Overall, this work provides valuable insights into the design of platform trials in the superiority setting and underscores their potential to accelerate therapy development in MDD and other therapeutic areas, providing a flexible and powerful alternative to traditional trial designs.