Simultaneous Confidence Bands for Comparisons to Placebo, with Application to Detecting the Minimum Effective Dose

Abstract

In this article we consider a max-min approach to construct two-sided and one-sided simultaneous confidence bands in a dose-response study for the contrast in mean responses of each ascending dose versus placebo. The method utilizes the assumption of monotone non-decreasing dose-response curve. Also discussed is a step-down testing procedure that utilizes the lower bands to estimate the minimum effective dose (MED). The performance of our proposed step-down procedure is assessed by simulations and is shown to be superior to competitors when the MED is the lowest dose in a dose-response study.