We are very delighted to announce that Andreas Kerschbaumer has been selected as PhD Student of the Month for September 2020. Andreas is enrolled in the N790 programme „Bones and Joint Regeneration“ and works at the Division of Rheumatology, Depatment of Medicine III. He is focused on clinical trial research in rheumatology, especially rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis.
Andreas and his research group, led by Daniel Aletaha, are trying to understand factors that influence study outcomes in randomized controlled trials. To accomplish this, they are using publicly available data to find out what drives responses (or potential non-responses) in randomized controlled trials investigating novel treatments. This helps investigators, sponsors and regulators to improve clinical trial design for a more rational and efficient way to successfully treat patients with rheumatic disease. Recently, these efforts led to a publication in the top-ranked journal „Nature Medicine“, showing that efficacy outcomes are overestimated in phase 2 trials compared to subsequent phase 3 trials in rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis.