Table 1. Patient characteristics.

	Total		Bio-FAST		Not studied
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	P-value
No. of treated patients	417a	100%	110	26.4%	307a	73.6%
Age
Median (range)	63 (29–79)	63 (37–79)	63 (29–79)	0.753
⩽64 Years	226	54.2%	62	56.4%	164	53.4%	0.595
>64 Years	191	45.8%	48	43.6%	143	46.6%
Gender
Male	329	79.5%	90	81.8%	239	78.6%	0.477
Female	85	20.5%	20	18.2%	65	21.4%
ECOG-PS
0	254	60.9%	71	64.5%	183	59.6%	0.363
1–2	163	39.1%	39	35.5%	124	40.4%
Stage
IIIB	83	19.9%	28	25.5%	55	17.9%	0.089
IV	334	80.1%	82	74.5%	252	82.1%
Histology
Squamous	117	28.3%	37	33.6%	80	26.4%	0.149
Non-squamous	296	71.7%	73	66.4%	223	73.6%
Treatment
Platinum	207	49.6%	57	51.8%	150	48.9%	0.594
Non-platinum	210	50.4%	53	48.2%	157	51.1%
Treatment
Two drugs	203	48.7%	49	44.5%	154	50.2%	0.312
Three drugs	214	51.3%	61	55.5%	153	49.8%

Abbreviation: ECOG-PS=Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group-Performance Status.

^aThe patients randomised in the FAST trial were 433, but 417 received assigned treatment; therefore, 307 were the patients not studied in the Bio-FAST trial and who received the assigned treatment.