Table 1. Summary of previous studies into first-line chemotherapy for MBC.

	Regimen	No. of patients	PFS (months)	OS (months)	Toxicity
Fumoleau et al [1]	Capecitabine	126	4.9	15.2
O’Shaughnessy et al [2]	Capecitabine	95	4.1	19.6	16% patients stopped due to toxicity 34% dose reduced
Stockler et al [3]	Capecitabine	323	6	22
Smorenburg et al [4]	Capecitabine	78	7.7	16.8	G3 fatigue 13%, G3 palmar plantar erythema 16%, G3 Diarrhoea 5%
Robert et al [5]	Capecitabine Taxane Anthracycline	615 307 315	5.7 8 8
Focan et al [6]	Epirubicin	141	8
Harris et al [7]	Doxorubicin	224	3.1	20
Chan et al [8]	Doxorubicin + Cyclophosphamide Epirubicin + Cyclophosphamide	160	7.7 5.6	18.3 16
Biganzoli et al [9]	Doxorubicin + Paclitaxel Doxorubicin + Cyclophosphamide	275	6 6	20.5 20.6	32% febrile neutropenia in Dox./Pac. arm
Pacilio et al [10]	Epirubicin Epirubicin + Docetaxel	51	9 11	18 21	Increased toxicity in Epi./Doc. arm
Gradishar et al [11]	Nab-Paclitaxel Docetaxel	302	12.9 7.5		G4 neutropenia 75% Doc., 39% nab-Pac. G3 fatigue 19% Doc. arm
Takashima et al [12]	Taxanes	618		37.2	G3 neutropenia 3%, G3 fatigue 4%
Albain et al [13]	Gemcitabine + Paclitaxel Paclitaxel	529	6.1 4	18.5 15.8	6.7% Gem./Pac. and 5% Pac. stopped due to toxicity
Jones et al [14]	Docetaxel Paclitaxel	449	5.7 3.6	15.4 12.7	Increased haematological and non-haematological toxicity in Doc. arm