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. 2025 Mar-Apr;24(2):e2455.
doi: 10.1002/pst.2455. Epub 2024 Nov 17.

Subgroup Identification Based on Quantitative Objectives

Yan Sun  1 , A S Hedayat  2
Affiliations

Subgroup Identification Based on Quantitative Objectives

Yan Sun et al. Pharm Stat. 2025 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

Precision medicine is the future of drug development, and subgroup identification plays a critical role in achieving the goal. In this paper, we propose a powerful end-to-end solution squant (available on CRAN) that explores a sequence of quantitative objectives. The method converts the original study to an artificial 1:1 randomized trial, and features a flexible objective function, a stable signature with good interpretability, and an embedded false discovery rate (FDR) control. We demonstrate its performance through simulation and provide a real data example.

Keywords: biomarker; precision medicine; subgroup identification.

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