This shortcut endpoint has pros and cons for patients.
Patients taking a cancer drug can live disease-free for years and then have a sudden and deadly recurrence of cancer.
This means the drug was effective in removing the shadow of cancer but not actually increasing the overall lifespan of the treatment group.
So is disease-free survival a good proxy measure for overall survival and a valid measure in terms of quality of life in itself?
Italian oncologist Professor Alberto Sobrero spoke on this topic at the Australasian gastrointestinal trials group annual scientific meeting recently. The Tea Room spoke with him about the implications.
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