338
Views
0
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
REVIEW

Tactical Considerations for Designing Real-World Studies: Fit-for-Purpose Designs That Bridge Research and Practice

ORCID Icon &
Pages 101-110 | Received 29 May 2023, Accepted 19 Sep 2023, Published online: 25 Sep 2023

References

  • US Food and Drug Administration. Framework for FDA’s real-world evidence program; 2018. Available from: https://www.fda.gov/media/120060/download. Accessed September 20, 2023.
  • Sherman RE, Anderson SA, Dal Pan GJ, et al. Real-world evidence — what is it and what can it tell us? N Engl J Med. 2016;375(23):2293–2297. doi:10.1056/NEJMsb1609216
  • Brass EP. The gap between clinical trials and clinical practice: the use of pragmatic clinical trials to inform regulatory decision making. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2010;87(3):351–355. doi:10.1038/clpt.2009.218
  • Thorpe KE, Zwarenstein M, Oxman AD, et al. A pragmatic–explanatory continuum indicator summary (PRECIS): a tool to help trial designers. J Clin Epidemiol. 2009;62(5):464–475. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2008.12.011
  • Ford I, Norrie J, Drazen JM. Pragmatic Trials. N Engl J Med. 2016;375(5):454–463. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1510059
  • Schwartz D, Lellouch J. Explanatory and pragmatic attitudes in therapeutical trials. J Chronic Dis. 1967;20(8):637–648. doi:10.1016/0021-9681(67)90041-0
  • Prentice RL. Surrogate endpoints in clinical trials: definition and operational criteria. Stat Med. 1989;8(4):431–440. doi:10.1002/sim.4780080407
  • US Food and Drug Administration. Diversity plans to improve enrollment of participants from underrepresented racial and ethnic populations in Clinical Trials Guidance for Industry; 2022. Available from: https://www.fda.gov/media/157635/download. Accessed September 20, 2023.
  • Dreyer NA. Strengthening evidence-based medicine with real-world evidence. Lancet Healthy Longev. 2022;3(10):e641–e642. doi:10.1016/S2666-7568(22)00214-8
  • Marc BMO, Daniel G, Frank K, et al. A framework for regulatory use of real-world evidence. White Paper. Duke Margolis Center for Health Policy; 2017. Available from: https://healthpolicy.duke.edu/publications/framework-regulatory-use-real-world-evidence. Accessed September 20, 2023.
  • Curtis JP. Association of physician certification and outcomes among patients receiving an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. JAMA. 2009;301(16):1661. doi:10.1001/jama.2009.547
  • Heidenreich PA, Hernandez AF, Yancy CW, Liang L, Peterson ED, Fonarow GC. Get with the guidelines program participation, process of care, and outcome for medicare patients hospitalized with heart failure. Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes. 2012;5(1):37–43. doi:10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.110.959122
  • Concato J, Corrigan-Curay J. Real-world evidence — where are we now? N Engl J Med. 2022;386(18):1680–1682. doi:10.1056/NEJMp2200089
  • Purpura CA, Garry EM, Honig N, Case A, Rassen JA. The role of real‐world evidence in FDA‐approved new drug and biologics license applications. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2022;111(1):135–144. doi:10.1002/cpt.2474
  • Bakker E, Plueschke K, Jonker CJ, Kurz X, Starokozhko V, Mol PGM. Contribution of real‐world evidence in European Medicines Agency’s regulatory decision making. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2023;113(1):135–151. doi:10.1002/cpt.2766
  • Li M, Chen S, Lai Y, et al. Integrating real-world evidence in the regulatory decision-making process: a systematic analysis of experiences in the US, EU, and China using a logic model. Front Med. 2021;8:669509. doi:10.3389/fmed.2021.669509
  • Storm NE, Chang W, Lin T-C, et al. A novel case study of the use of real-world evidence to support the registration of an osteoporosis product in China. Ther Innov Regul Sci. 2022;56(1):137–144. doi:10.1007/s43441-021-00342-4
  • Tan YY, Papez V, Chang WH, Mueller SH, Denaxas S, Lai AG. Comparing clinical trial population representativeness to real-world populations: an external validity analysis encompassing 43 895 trials and 5 685 738 individuals across 989 unique drugs and 286 conditions in England. Lancet Healthy Longev. 2022;3(10):e674–e689. doi:10.1016/S2666-7568(22)00186-6
  • Simon R, Blumenthal G, Rothenberg M, et al. The role of nonrandomized trials in the evaluation of oncology drugs. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2015;97(5):502–507. doi:10.1002/cpt.86
  • Topp MS, Gökbuget N, Zugmaier G, et al. Long-term survival of patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated with blinatumomab. Cancer. 2021;127(4):554–559. doi:10.1002/cncr.33298
  • Gökbuget N, Kelsh M, Chia V, et al. Blinatumomab vs historical standard therapy of adult relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood Cancer J. 2016;6(9):e473–e473. doi:10.1038/bcj.2016.84
  • European Medicines Agency. Product information – Brineura 150 mg solution for infusion; 2017. Available from: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/product-information/brineura-epar-product-information_en.pdf. Accessed 20 September, 2023.
  • American Heart Association. Get with the guidelines - coronary artery disease. Available from: https://www.heart.org/en/professional/quality-improvement/get-with-the-guidelines/get-with-the-guidelines-coronary-artery-disease. Accessed September 20, 2023.
  • Shankar R, Poole L, Halmos T, et al. Using AI to support evidence & market access strategy development. Presentation presented at: ISPOR; May 7–10; 2023; Boston, MA, USA.
  • Hillner BE, Siegel BA, Shields AF, et al. Relationship between cancer type and impact of PET and PET/CT on intended management: findings of the National Oncologic PET Registry. J Nucl Med. 2008;49(12):1928–1935. doi:10.2967/jnumed.108.056713
  • Park JJH, Siden E, Zoratti MJ, et al. Systematic review of basket trials, umbrella trials, and platform trials: a landscape analysis of master protocols. Trials. 2019;20(1):572. doi:10.1186/s13063-019-3664-1
  • Gliklich RE, Dreyer NA, Leavy MB. Registries for evaluating patient outcomes: a user’s guide. AHRQ Publication No. 13(14)-EHC111 ; 2014.
  • Velentgas PDN, Nourjah P, Smith SR, Torchia MM. Developing a Protocol for Observational Comparative Effectiveness Research: A User’s Guide. Agency for Health Care Research and Quality; 2013:EHC099.
  • Rothman KJ. No adjustments are needed for multiple comparisons. Epidemiology. 1990;1(1):43–46. doi:10.1097/00001648-199001000-00010
  • Bager P, Hvas CL, Dahlerup JF. Drug‐specific hypophosphatemia and hypersensitivity reactions following different intravenous iron infusions. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2017;83(5):1118–1125. doi:10.1111/bcp.13189
  • Barda N, Dagan N, Ben-Shlomo Y, et al. Safety of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 vaccine in a nationwide setting. N Engl J Med. 2021;385(12):1078–1090. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2110475
  • Bourla A. Moonshot: Inside Pfizer’s Nine-Month Race to Make the Impossible Possible. New York, NY: Harper Business; 2022.
  • Patient-generated health data. Available from: https://www.healthit.gov/topic/scientific-initiatives/pcor/patient-generated-health-data-pghd. Accessed September 20, 2023.
  • Dreyer N, Reynolds MW, Albert L, et al. How frequent are acute reactions to COVID-19 vaccination and who is at risk? Vaccine. 2022;40(12):1904–1912. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.12.072
  • Reynolds MW, Xie Y, Knuth KB, et al. COVID-19 vaccination breakthrough infections in a real-world setting: using community reporters to evaluate vaccine effectiveness. Infect Drug Resist. 2022;15:5167–5182. doi:10.2147/IDR.S373183
  • Reynolds MW, Secora A, Joules A, et al. Evaluating real-world COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness using a test-negative case–control design. J Comp Eff Res. 2022;11(16):1161–1172. doi:10.2217/cer-2022-0069
  • Rothman KJ, Gallacher JE, Hatch EE. Why representativeness should be avoided. Int J Epidemiol. 2013;42(4):1012–1014. doi:10.1093/ije/dys223
  • Mack CD, Wasserman EB, Perrine CG, et al. Implementation and evolution of mitigation measures, testing, and contact tracing in the National Football League, August 9–November 21, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2021;70(4):130–135. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7004e2
  • Mack CD, Osterholm M, Wasserman EB, et al. Optimizing SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in the United States: insights from The National Football League occupational health program. Ann Intern Med. 2021;174(8):1081–1089. doi:10.7326/M21-0319
  • Mack CD, Wasserman EB, Hostler CJ, et al. Effectiveness and use of reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction point of care testing in a large‐scale COVID ‐19 surveillance system. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2022;31(5):511–518. doi:10.1002/pds.5424
  • Mack CD, DiFiori J, Tai CG, et al. SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk among national basketball association players, staff, and vendors exposed to individuals with positive test results after COVID-19 recovery during the 2020 regular and postseason. JAMA Intern Med. 2021;181(7):960. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2021.2114
  • Tai CG, Maragakis LL, Connolly S, et al. Association between COVID-19 booster vaccination and omicron infection in a highly vaccinated cohort of players and staff in the National Basketball Association. JAMA. 2022;328(2):209. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.9479
  • Simon GE, Bindman AB, Dreyer NA, et al. When can we trust real‐world data to evaluate new medical treatments? Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2022;111(1):24–29. doi:10.1002/cpt.2252
  • Nicholas MNH, Silcox C, Aten A, et al. Determining real-world data’s fitness for use and the role of reliability. White Paper; 2019 https://healthpolicy.duke.edu/sites/default/files/2019-11/rwd_reliability.pdf.
  • Dreyer NA, Mack CD, Anderson RB, Wojtys EM, Hershman EB, Sills A. Lessons on Data collection and curation from the NFL injury surveillance program. Sports Health. 2019;11(5):440–445. doi:10.1177/1941738119854759
  • Kahn MG, Callahan TJ, Barnard J, et al. A harmonized data quality assessment terminology and framework for the secondary use of electronic health record data. eGEMs. 2016;4(1):18. doi:10.13063/2327-9214.1244
  • Informatics OHDSa. Standardized data: the OMOP common data model. Available from: https://www.ohdsi.org/data-standardization/#:~:text=The%20Observational%20Medical%20Outcomes%20Partnership,that%20can%20produce%20reliable%20evidence. Accessed September 20, 2023.
  • Osterman TJ, Terry M, Miller RS. Improving cancer data interoperability: the promise of the Minimal Common Oncology Data Elements (mCODE) initiative. JCO Clin Cancer Inform. 2020;4(4):993–1001. doi:10.1200/CCI.20.00059
  • Daniel G, Silcox C, Bryan J, et al. Characterizing RWD quality and relevancy for regulatory purposes; 2018 https://healthpolicy.duke.edu/sites/default/files/2020-08/Characterizing%20RWD%20for%20Regulatory%20Use.pdf.
  • US Food and Drug Administration. Demonstrating substantial evidence of effectiveness for human drug and biological products; 2019. Available from: https://www.fda.gov/media/133660/download. Accessed September 20, 2023.
  • Dreyer NA, Sheth N, Trontell A, Gliklich RE. Good practices for handling adverse events detected through patient registries. Drug Inf J. 2008;42(5):421–428. doi:10.1177/009286150804200502
  • Niu X, Divino V, Sharma S, Dekoven M, Anupindi VR, Dembek C. Healthcare resource utilization and exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease treated with nebulized glycopyrrolate in the USA: a real-world data analysis. J Med Econ. 2021;24(1):1–9. doi:10.1080/13696998.2020.1845185
  • Rivera DR, Gokhale MN, Reynolds MW, et al. Linking electronic health data in pharmacoepidemiology: appropriateness and feasibility. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2020;29(1):18–29. doi:10.1002/pds.4918
  • Pratt NL, Mack CD, Meyer AM, et al. Data linkage in pharmacoepidemiology: a call for rigorous evaluation and reporting. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2020;29(1):9–17. doi:10.1002/pds.4924
  • Mack CD, Meisel P, Herzog MM, et al. The establishment and refinement of the national basketball association player injury and illness database. J Athl Train. 2019;54(5):466–471. doi:10.4085/1062-6050-18-19
  • Mack C, Sendor RR, Solomon G, et al. Enhancing concussion management in the national football league: evolution and initial results of the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultants program, 2012–2017. Neurosurgery. 2020;87(2):312–319. doi:10.1093/neuros/nyz481
  • Mack C, Myers E, Barnes R, Solomon G, Sills A. Engaging athletic trainers in concussion detection: overview of the National Football League ATC spotter program, 2011–2017. J Athl Train. 2019;54(8):852–857. doi:10.4085/1062-6050-181-19
  • Hay JA, Kissler SM, Fauver JR, et al. Quantifying the impact of immune history and variant on SARS-CoV-2 viral kinetics and infection rebound: a retrospective cohort study. Elife. 2022;11. doi:10.7554/eLife.81849
  • Kissler SM, Fauver JR, Mack C, et al. Viral dynamics of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection and applications to diagnostic and public health strategies. PLoS Biol. 2021;19(7):e3001333. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3001333
  • Ferreira JC, Patino CM. Choosing wisely between randomized controlled trials and observational designs in studies about interventions. J Brasileiro de Pneumologia. 2016;42(3):165. doi:10.1590/S1806-37562016000000152
  • Lauer MS, D’Agostino RB. The randomized registry trial — the next disruptive technology in clinical research? N Engl J Med. 2013;369(17):1579–1581. doi:10.1056/NEJMp1310102
  • US Department of Veterans Affairs. VA cooperative studies program; 2018. Available from: https://www.vacsp.research.va.gov/CSP_597/Information_for_VA_Providers.asp#:~:text=The%20Diuretic%20Comparison%20Project%20%28DCP%29%20is%20the%20first,or%20more%20approved%20treatments%20when%20clinical%20equipoise%20exists. Accessed September 20, 2023.
  • Alphs L, Benson C, Cheshire-Kinney K, et al. Real-world outcomes of paliperidone palmitate compared to daily oral antipsychotic therapy in schizophrenia: a randomized, open-label, review board–blinded 15-month study. J Clin Psychiatry. 2015;76(5):554–561. doi:10.4088/JCP.14m09584
  • Baumfeld Andre E, Reynolds R, Caubel P, Azoulay L, Dreyer NA. Trial designs using real‐world data: the changing landscape of the regulatory approval process. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2020;29(10):1201–1212. doi:10.1002/pds.4932
  • DeMonaco HJ, Ali A, Hippel EV. The major role of clinicians in the discovery of off-label drug therapies. Pharmacotherapy. 2006;26(3):323–332. doi:10.1592/phco.26.3.323
  • Gatto NM, Campbell UB, Rubinstein E, et al. The structured process to identify fit‐for‐purpose data: a data feasibility assessment framework. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2022;111(1):122–134. doi:10.1002/cpt.2466
  • Hall GC, Sauer B, Bourke A, Brown JS, Reynolds MW, Casale RL. Guidelines for good database selection and use in pharmacoepidemiology research. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2012;21(1):1–10. doi:10.1002/pds.2229
  • Hernán MA, Wang W, Leaf DE. Target trial emulation: a framework for causal inference from observational data. JAMA. 2022;328(24):2446. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.21383
  • US Food and Drug Administration. Paclitaxel-coated balloons and stents for peripheral arterial disease. Available from: https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/cardiovascular-devices/paclitaxel-coated-balloons-and-stents-peripheral-arterial-disease. Accessed September 20, 2023.
  • Rothman KJ, Loughlin JE, Funch DP, Dreyer NA. Overall mortality of cellular telephone customers. Epidemiology. 1996;7(3):303–305. doi:10.1097/00001648-199605000-00015
  • Miksad RA, Abernethy AP. Harnessing the power of Real-World Evidence (RWE): a checklist to ensure regulatory-grade data quality. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2018;103(2):202–205. doi:10.1002/cpt.946
  • Vandenbroucke JP. Strega, Strobe, Stard, Squire, Moose, Prisma, Gnosis, Trend, Orion, Coreq, Quorom, Remark… and Consort: for whom does the guideline toll? J Clin Epidemiol. 2009;62(6):594–596. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2008.12.003
  • Roche N, Campbell JD, Krishnan JA, et al. Quality standards in respiratory real-life effectiveness research: the REal Life EVidence AssessmeNt Tool (RELEVANT): report from the Respiratory Effectiveness Group—European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Task Force. Clin Transl Allergy. 2019;9(1):20. doi:10.1186/s13601-019-0255-x
  • Allen A, Patrick H, Ruof J, et al. Development and pilot test of the registry evaluation and quality standards tool: an information technology–based tool to support and review registries. Value Health. 2022;25(8):1390–1398. doi:10.1016/j.jval.2021.12.018
  • Dreyer NA, Bryant A, Velentgas P. The GRACE checklist: a validated assessment tool for high quality observational studies of comparative effectiveness. J Manag Care Special Pharm. 2016;22(10):1107–1113. doi:10.18553/jmcp.2016.22.10.1107