A randomization mechanism for enabling randomization of a patient to one of two treatment options having different time-to-treatments is presented. Data is received for a patient experiencing symptoms of the type treatable by either of the two treatment options. The received data is used to compute for a first treatment option of the two treatment options at its associated time-to-treatment a benefit value. Assuming a benefit value for the second treatment option is an estimate of the computed first benefit value, the received data and computed benefit value are used to compute a maximum allowable delay time during which the benefit value for the second treatment option is no less than the benefit value computed for the first treatment option. When provided a given delay time by which the time-to-treatment of the second treatment option lags the first treatment option time-to-treatment, the mechanism determines if the given delay time is less than or equal to the allowable delay time. If the given delay time is determined to be less than or equal to the allowable delay time, then the patient is eligible for randomization.
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