Last updated: 21 April 2013
Note: If you arrived at this page directly
using a search engine such as Google then this may not be the "Spectre"
you are looking for. There are a few software packages called "Spectre".
The "Spectre" you can download below is to do with clinical trials reporting.
Some of the clinical reporting macros are free such as %popfmt, %dosemerge, %nodata, %locf and some minor submacros of %unistats. You are free to use these under the same conditions as the utility macros. The reason they are in the clinical reporting library is that they are of a different type to the utility macros and belong more with the clinical reporting macros. Check the bottom of the macro header and it will be clear about if it is free as the text will be the same as for the utility macros.
Note that in the first two cases that require a licence then you do not need a licence if you use these macros just to study them (even if you just study them yourself) or you use them for demonstration purposes only (such as in a college or university). A licence is required only when you use these macros for a real analysis of data whether to do with clinical trials or not (or QC of analysis). You can run the clinical reporting macros on old data for a long as you like without a licence so long as the analysis results (whether directly or QC of results) are no longer relevant. This means you could set up a speed test benchmark using these macros on old data (maybe a new pooling of data) so long as the analysis results were not of interest. But if you were pooling data for a new analysis and the analysis results were relevant then you would need a licence for using them.
If you want to use these macros as part of an evaluation exercise to do real analysis of data then this is possible but you need to ask for permission (which will almost always be granted for a period that suits you but you must ask).
To sum up - if you are doing real analysis of data (or QC of real analysis of data) and the results of that analysis are relevant then you need a licence. If the results of analysis are not relevant then you don't need a licence. If you are purely rerunning on old data these macros were previously run on to check the results these same macros produced then you do not need a licence. If you want to do real analysis of data (or QC of the same) but for an evaluation exercise only then you don't need a licence but you have to be granted permission to use it for this purpose.
There is no need for a licence for sending these macros to the sponsor and they in turn sending them to the regulatory authority (you will need both the free "utility macros" plus the licensed "clinical macros" for the clinical macros to work) for the purposes of giving them the code that was used to perform the analysis so that they can rerun the code. Both the sponsor and regulatory authority are allowed to rerun the code that calls these macros to reproduce the analysis on the original clinical data provided. What they are not allowed to do (unless they have a licence) is to use the macros independently for a new analysis either on the same data or on different data.
Some of the utility macros call macros in the SAS Institute supplied autocall macros so these must be available on the SASAUTOS path. Put these SI-supplied macros last on the path (they can be referred to using the libraef SASAUTOS) with the clinical macros first on the path with the utility macros following them something like this:
options sasautos=("C:\Spectre\clinmacros", "C:\Spectre\utilmacros",
SASAUTOS);
Click on the ".zip" links to download:
html documentation for Spectre (usually out of date).
spectre.zip
Clinical sas macros.
From the start of 2012 then if you use these clinical reporting macros on real analysis of data then a licence fee will be payable per year per programmer (applicable sales tax to be added) of 10% of the individual sas license renewal fee for your country (for individual users) (this varies a lot. In Europe it is about €2000 for the relicensing fee and in China it is about €1110). I have had to make this charge since 2012 so I can afford to pay for a full SAS licence since the SAS Learning Edition was withdrawn. Also, the time I put into the Clinical sas macros has become disproportionate (250 hours in 2011) and I can not continue to do the work unless my time is paid for, otherwise other work has priority.
No licence is payable if you use these macros purely for educational use (even if just for your own educational benefit) or for demonstration purposes only. Also, if you send these macros to your sponsor or the macros get sent to a regulatory authority so that they can rerun your code to check the results then these organisations do not need a licence for these macros as they will just be repeating work already done using the macros (naturally, if they use the macros for a new analysis or independent verification then they will need a licence).
The information on this page regarding cost and licencing overrides any other page on this web site. The information you might find on a "Terms for Spectre support" page is out of date.
If you need to use the macros for an evaluation exercise and need to run them on real study data then I can grant a free period for this (up to two clinical trials or a single pooled grouping) but this needs to be requested and granted by me. For large organisations, longer evaluation periods are possible.
For large organisations, there is a discount on blocks of licences as follows.: 50=3.75 renewals, 100=5 renewals, 125=6.25 renewals, 150=7.5 renewals, 175=8.75 renewals etc. (applicable sales tax to be added). Suggestions as to new macro development from block licence holders are welcomed. For CROs and pharmaceutical companies who require the clinical macros to be supported then the minimum block size is 50.
(Note that RGPP is a separate product with a different charging structure and requires a separate licence. The RGPP macros are included in the download but must be separately licenced if used).
Note that all the macros (except for a few such as %nodata, %popfmt,
%dosemerge and %locf which are utility macros placed in the clinical macros
library) contain the following
Copyright notice and disclaimer
at the end of the header. Only download these macros and use them if you
accept these terms.
| /===============================================================================
/ Copyright (C) 2011, Roland Rashleigh-Berry. Use of this software is by license / only commencing 01 Jan 2012 although permission is granted to use these macros / purely for educational or demonstration purposes. / / Users should ensure this software is suitable for the purpose to which it is / put and to provide adequate checks on the accuracy of any values produced as / no guarantee can be given that the results displayed by this software are as / expected and no liability is accepted for any damage caused through use of any / incorrect output produced. Only use this software if you agree to these terms. /=============================================================================*/ |
Utility sas macros. Note that all the utility macros contain the following disclaimer at the end of the header. Only download these macros and use them if you accept this disclaimer.
These macros are free (some of the clinical macros are free as well
- see above)
| /===============================================================================
/ This is public domain software. No guarantee as to suitability or accuracy is / given or implied. User uses this code entirely at their own risk. /=============================================================================*/ |
Spectre system macros. Note that all the macros contain the following disclaimer at the end of the header. Only download these macros and use them if you accept this disclaimer.
These macros are free
| /===============================================================================
/ This is public domain software. No guarantee as to suitability or accuracy is / given or implied. User uses this code entirely at their own risk. /=============================================================================*/ |
Spectre scripts + some documentation of these. All the scripts are bash shell scripts. Note that all the scripts contain the following disclaimer at the end of the header. Only download these scripts and use them if you accept this disclaimer.
These scripts are free
| #===============================================================================
# This is public domain software. No guarantee as to suitability or accuracy is # given or implied. User uses this code entirely at their own risk. #=============================================================================== |
For instructions on how to install Spectre (Clinical), refer to the
relevant section on the main page.