A test for predicting whether a non-small-cell lung cancer patient is more likely to benefit from an EGFR-I as compared to chemotherapy uses a computer-implemented classifier operating on a mass spectrum of a blood-based sample obtained from the patient. The classifier makes use of a training set which includes mass spectral data from blood-based samples of other cancer patients who are members of a class of patients predicted to have overall survival benefit on EGFRI-Is, e.g., those patients testing VS Good under the test described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,736,905. This class-labeled group is further subdivided into two subsets, i.e., those patients which exhibited early (class label “early”) and late (class label “late”) progression of disease after administration of the EGFR-I in treatment of cancer.
