The Revolution of Real-World Evidence
Written by Hannah Matthews
Today, real-world evidence has never been so powerful, as it provides a comprehensive understanding of how therapeutic options perform with real patients in the real world. The COVID-19 pandemic provided a real-time example of the value of real-world data and accelerated the use and acceptance of real-world evidence in decision-making. Now we must continue the real-world evidence revolution!
The increased availability of multiple data sources, alongside the ability to link data across different sources, makes thoughtful study design more important than ever. At OPEN Health, our scientists carefully assess the suitability of different data sources to ensure we are producing transparent, rigorous and high-quality real-world evidence, whilst protecting the rights of patients. We pride ourselves on being data agnostic, rather than being reliant on any one specific data source. We continually seek to increase our access to data through in-house acquisitions and by forming academic and commercial partnerships in the UK, Europe and across the globe. UK real-world evidence is becoming a go-to data source for HEOR research due to the volume, coverage and quality of the data available. Our UK data sources span both primary and secondary care and wider healthcare organisations to allow us to answer our clients’ most complex scientific questions.
Hannah Matthews is a business development director in OPEN Health's Evidence & Access practice.
- The Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) database contains pseudonymised patient-level hospital data and covers 98% of the patient population across England and Wales. Harvey Walsh, a division within OPEN Health, is one of the few healthcare consultancies to hold an HES licence in-house. Our licence enables us to undertake analysis across a 10-year linked data set, performing critical research into patient pathways, outcomes and healthcare resource use across an entire population.
- Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) data is collected from a network of general practitioner practices across the UK and covers approximately 18% of the population. Through these data, we can track the patient’s journey from the initial consultation and investigation through referral to diagnosis and treatment, regardless of whether these events took place in the primary or secondary care setting, generating powerful evidence for our clients. Our dedicated Biostatistics and Analytics team are experts in data linkage and often work with HES and CPRD data.
- DATA-CAN is a health data research hub that focuses exclusively on oncology research. DATA-CAN allows for retrospective analysis of existing data, alongside a hybrid data collection approach whereby patient records can be curated at their source within the electronic health records (EHRs) of several large NHS Cancer Centres across the UK. OPEN Health is one of only two commercial partners of DATA-CAN. Through utilising the richest oncology data available, OPEN Health is able to generate high-quality real-world evidence.
In summary, real-world evidence has become key in decision-making among a diverse range of stakeholders, including pharmaceutical companies, regulators, HTA agencies and payers. With UK data becoming a go-to data source, OPEN Health is particularly well placed to generate timely, meaningful and cost-efficient real-world evidence that can meet the needs of all healthcare stakeholders.
If you would like to find out more about OPEN Health’s real-world evidence capabilities, please contact:
HannahMatthews@openhealthgroup.com, GeorginaNock@openhealthgroup.com or SueBeecroft@openhealthgroup.com.