Evaluation Criteria in Comparative Clinical Trials in Advanced Breast Cancer: A Proposal for Improvement

Clinical trials in metastatic breast cancer and other presently incurable diseases may have three basically different aims: a) The development of new drugs or new modalities of treatment in Phase I and Phase II trials b) The development of new drug combinations or schedules which may eventually produce long-term survival and cure c) The selection of optimal treatments in terms of palliation (quality of life) and time (quantity of life).