In the medical research field, there is one thing that there is no shortage of: data.
Data from medical and pharmacy claims, provider data, as well as remittance, eligibility, EHR, and mortality data, are just some of the information available to researchers in the field.
In 2020, the World Economic Forum estimated that the worldwide healthcare system produced 2.3 zettabytes of data, an inconceivable amount and approximately a large chunk of the total data produced on earth, with some estimates as high as 30%.
While real-world-data is plentiful, reproducible research is not, according to healthcare data analytics company PurpleLab.
The company recently announced the launch of the PurpleLab Center for Advancing Real-World Evidence Studies (CARES), an initiative designed to promote the use of PurpleLab’s real-world data for research studies, facilitate academic partnerships, and support patient advocacy efforts.
According to the company, the research field lacks more space where researchers can collaborate openly and rigorously peer-review real-world-evidence (RWE), or the clinical knowledge or synthesized findings produced after scientifically analyzing real-world-data (RWD)
For example, a dozen research teams might publish a definition for something as common as the Charlson Comorbidity Index, a standard measure of patient illness burden, and only a handful will say which codes and weights they used. What makes it reproducible, the company says, is methods others can inspect, cohorts they can reuse, researchers trained to build both, and the time to pursue questions that might otherwise go unanswered.
With PurpleLab CARES, the company is attempting to address the issue.
“Real-world evidence is strongest when it’s rigorous, peer-reviewed, and shared openly. With PurpleLab CARES, we’re demonstrating what our data can do in the hands of researchers, academic partners and patient communities,” said Scott DuVall, Senior Vice President, Real-World Evidence, at PurpleLab, in a statement.
There exist similar initiatives, including the Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research, or ISPOR’s Real-World Evidence Registry, which helps researchers better facilitate transparency in their work.
For its part, PurpleLab collates vast real-world datasets in one intuitive space for discovery, hypothesis testing, outcomes measurement, and gleaning actionable insights.
The company has over 16 billion annual medical and pharmacy claims and provider data, along with other datasets helpful to their clients, including life sciences, payer, provider, and advertising teams. Now they are bringing the power of their datasets to research and academia.
With CARES, partners can inquire about Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) studies, academic programs can propose student research projects, evidence networks can explore collaboration, and patient organizations can submit a study idea.
According to company social media, the CARES initiative is divided into four pillars:
• Reproducible Research: replicating studies trending in the field to validate methodology, so the evidence clinicians and payers act on holds up.
• Academic Partnerships: mentorship, study design guidance, and training for academic research centers.
• Rigorous Methods: building transparent, operational definitions into study design from the start.
• Patient Communities: partnering with foundations and advocacy groups so patients help shape research priorities on important research topics.
The company concluded that “rigorous evidence is what stands between a research question and a better decision for a patient.”
Real-wold-evidence, a market tipped to become a $12.4 billion market by 2031, is becoming a crucial component in the advancement of precision and personalized medicine. RWE can help with better understanding of patient populations; defining clinical guidelines; drug development; patient education; resource utilization and much more.
Disclosure: This article mentions a client of an Espacio portfolio company.
