Analysis and interpretation of response rates for anticancer drugs.

A statistical method for interpreting data on the efficacy of anticancer agents is proposed. Tables were prepared for the retrospective analysis of studies evaluating the activity of anticancer agents against individual tumor types. The number of responding patients and the number of patients entered in the study were used to more objectively and formally determine the future disposition of the drug. Several examples of clinical studies show that use of our tables allows a more satisfactory and reliable classification than is often currently reported.