Dr Palash Ghosh (left) and his team have introduced an adaptive randomisation method that uses real-time trial data. Credit: © 2025 Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati researchers, in partnership with global institutions, have developed an adaptive multi-stage clinical trial method for transforming ‘personalised’ medical care.

This approach allows treatment plans to be adjusted in real-time, based on individual subject responses.

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Conducted in collaboration with the National University of Singapore, the University of Michigan, and Duke-NUS Medical School, the research concentrates on Dynamic Treatment Regimes (DTRs) developed through sequential multiple assignment randomised trials (SMARTs).

These frameworks are tailored to optimise treatment strategies for subjects whose responses to treatments vary over time.

IIT Guwahati’s Department of Mathematics assistant professor Dr Palash Ghosh, along with his team, has introduced an adaptive randomisation method that allocates subjects to treatment arms ‘dynamically’, based on real-time trial data, optimising patient allocation ratios in ‘favour’ of better-performing treatment sequences, the institution noted.

This method aims to ensure that a greater number of patients receive effective treatments.

Dr Ghosh said: “Adaptive designs like this would encourage more patient participation in clinical trials like SMART. When patients see they are receiving treatments tailored to their needs, they are more likely to stay engaged.

“This approach also has vast potential for public health interventions, such as tailoring substance abuse recovery plans to individual needs, as well as in other chronic diseases.”

The research team is now collaborating with Indian medical institutions carrying out SMART trials to manage mental health issues using Indian medicines.

The research has been supported by various grants, including the MOE-T2EP20122-0013 from the Ministry of Education, Singapore. Other sources of funding also include grants from NIDA, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the IDEAS-Technology Innovation Hub, ISI Kolkata, and a start-up grant from Duke-NUS Medical School.