I concur too, of course, as to self-inflicted injury of dichotomization. I note however Ascierto & Long [1] argue in favor of landmark analysis, on the very basis that “the use of median progression-free survival might underestimate the clinical value of a drug.” They seem mainly motivated by this consideration:
“As more drugs and combinations enter clinical development programmes, the landmark progression-free survival will be a more helpful benchmark to understand if a novel therapy has a place in the emerging treatment landscape.”
The figure from [1] also underscores this point:
A full working-out of this issue probably should address the motivations for interest in landmark analysis. Thanks to @drjgauthier for posting; I look forward to following this convo and learning more about this.
- Ascierto PA, Long GV. Progression-free survival landmark analysis: a critical endpoint in melanoma clinical trials. The Lancet Oncology. 2016;17(8):1037-1039. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(16)30017-1 PMID 27324281