# Comparative Effectiveness Research in Axial Spondyloarthritis

> **NIH NIH K23** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2020 · $170,507

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
This proposal will provide Dr. Runsheng Wang with the vital training needed to achieve her long-term goal of
becoming an independent clinical investigator in comparative effectiveness research in axial spondyloarthritis
(axSpA), with an overall research program aimed at optimizing clinical management of patients with axSpA
and improving axSpA outcomes.
Limited evidence is available to guide clinicians and patients to make an individualized treatment plan based
on current group level effectiveness and safety data of therapeutic agents. Traditional head-to-head
randomized clinical trials are limited by small number of study arms, high cost, and inability to measure
individual treatment effects. N-of-1 trials use multi-crossover to address patient-treatment interaction and to
measure individual responses to different therapies. Recent advances in biomedical informatics make it
possible to transform everyday clinical care to robust well designed n-of-1 trials. An EHR-based computable
phenotyping algorithm would improve cohort identification and reduce the complexity of patient recruitment
during such trials. Therefore, I hypothesize that N-of-1 trials would identify the most effective therapeutic
agents for symptom control in individuals. In the long-term, pragmatic, large scale N-of-1 trials would
provide the opportunity to study comparative effectiveness of different drugs in the real world setting.
Innovative trial design and bioinformatics tools for cohort identification and systemic data collection will be
key elements, among others, in facilitating future comparative effectiveness research in axSpA.
The overall goal of this proposal is to test the feasibility of N-of-1 trials of two NSAIDs in axSpA and to develop
informatics tools to facilitate the planning and implementation of such trials in a larger scale. The proposed
series of N-of-1 trials will provide a framework for comparative effectiveness of other therapeutic agents in
patients with axSpA. Coupled with an EHR-based cohort identification tool, this trial design will increase
therapeutic precision in individual patients and promote patient-centered research and personalized medicine
in axSpA.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9892603
- **Project number:** 1K23AR074560-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Runsheng Wang
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $170,507
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-08-15 → 2021-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9892603

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9892603, Comparative Effectiveness Research in Axial Spondyloarthritis (1K23AR074560-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9892603. Licensed CC0.

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