The Continual reassessment method is a model based procedure that has been in the literature to determine the maximum tolerated dose in phase I clinical trials. The maximum tolerated dose can also be found under the framework of D-optimum design. This paper investigates the two methods to explore any potential differences between them. Simulation studies for six plausible dose-response scenarios show that the D-optimum design can work well over the continual reassessment method in many cases. The D-optimum design has also been found to allocate doses from the extremes of design region to the patients in a trial.

Keywords: Dose finding studies; Phase I trial; Maximum tolerated dose; Continual re-assessment method; D-optimum design.