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FM AUGUST 2018 ISSUE1 - digital edition

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esearch<br />

Hunt for real-world data<br />

Drug makers are in race to gather data outside clinical trials as end-users<br />

demand evidence for efficacy and value of drugs in day to day clinical practice<br />

I<br />

n February, the Swiss drug giant<br />

Roche acquired Flatiron Health, a<br />

start-up analyzing real-time<br />

oncology data to help cancer patients<br />

and doctors, in a $1.9 billion deal.<br />

Roche is one of the drug makers racing<br />

to strike deals with big data analytics<br />

companies hunting for information on<br />

how drugs work in the real world.<br />

Traditionally, medicines are evaluated<br />

through randomised clinical trials<br />

(RCT). Many drugs shine in clinical<br />

trials, but under-deliver in day-to-day<br />

clinical practice.<br />

This is where gathering real-world evidence<br />

(RWE) is gaining importance. Companies<br />

are gathering and generating data outside<br />

RCT to produce evidence for efficacy and<br />

value of drugs in the real world.<br />

The rise of electronic medical records,<br />

insurance claims databases, fitness<br />

wearables and even social media<br />

aids this trend by offering a trove of<br />

new information.<br />

A Deloitte poll of 2017 found more than<br />

half of the life science companies to be<br />

engaged in the process of developing<br />

real world data capabilities.<br />

Major drug companies now have<br />

departments dedicated for use of realworld<br />

data across multiple diseases.<br />

Quite a few companies have already<br />

completed scientific studies using the<br />

data into areas addressed by their drugs.<br />

AstraZeneca and Sanofi, for instance,<br />

are conducting research on diabetes.<br />

Joint research in stroke prevention by<br />

Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb, and<br />

a bowel disease project by Takeda<br />

Pharmaceuticals are other examples.<br />

The trend is fast catching up in the recent<br />

years. Half of the world’s 1,800 clinical<br />

studies involving real-world or real-life<br />

46 / FUTURE MEDICINE / <strong>AUGUST</strong> <strong>2018</strong>

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