Destined to fail, page-30

Yes, that is my understanding. The larger the sample, the more statistically certain you can be about a smaller clinical improvement. You need statistical significance as proof of some effect, and clinical significance as whether it's worth the effort of using it as a treatment.

btw I'm not AT ALL negative on SIR-Spheres. I'm still of the opinion (I've stated this in a previous thread somewhere) that there is still a probability (there's that word again!) that this result is exactly what the company were expecting.

To recap -(1) I (as a non-scientist) would not expect that a treatment for liver cancer injected into the liver would halt progressions of tumours elsewhere in the body. Hence it is no surprise to me that the Primary outcome would fail.
(2) A secondary outcome (PFS in the Liver) was confirmed in this very large trial group. This is exactly what a treatment for Liver Cancer should do. We know that this is statistically significant (because it was reported) but we don't yet know the clinical significance. As Klutch points out, if the clinical significance is minor, this would be a big disappointment (3) They have remained silent on another secondary outcome, of Overall Survival. I still think there is a chance that they will report a statistically significant improvement in OS at the conference, because of the known fact that 90% of people with mCRC die of liver failure. But again it may not be clinically significant. They've hinted at this in the Press Release: "This secondary study endpoint is important as liver tumours are commonly the only, or dominant, site of disease in patients with mCRC and are the major site of disease influencing survival"

But there is also a probability that I am wrong on any or all of the above points!

As an aside my only other disappointment with SRX the company is the complete and utter lack of communication since the one-liner on the trial results. Surely some explanatory paper about possible outcomes could have been released without jeopardising their presentation at the conference? But then they'd take away all the fun we're having on this forum