Multiple Comparisons of Treatments with Stable Multivariate Tests in a Two‐Stage Adaptive Design, Including a Test for Non‐Inferiority

The application of stabilized multivariate tests is demonstrated in the analysis of a two-stage adaptive clinical trial with three treatment arms. Due to the clinical problem, the multiple comparisons include tests of superiority as well as a test for non-inferiority, where non-inferiority is (because of missing absolute tolerance limits) expressed as linear contrast of the three treatments. Special emphasis is paid to the combination of the three sources of multiplicity - multiple endpoints, multiple treatments, and two stages of the adaptive design. Particularly, the adaptation after the first stage comprises a change of the a-priori order of hypotheses.