Patient-level, real-world data (RWD) in pharma has been used for years to inform drug development and other healthcare-related decision making. The world of RWD is set to explode with expanding data sets and an increasing variety of data sources, including:
This data will become an even more important factor in generating actionable insights and improving patient outcomes. However, traditional methods of acquiring and applying this data for pharmaceutical product launch and commercialization may be ill-equipped to produce timely and cost-effective results.
Managing multiple data sources and vendors is already a challenge cited by pharmaceutical leaders in the Reuters survey. In fact, 22% of respondents ranked it as the top challenge, referring to the process as time consuming and resource sapping. The expansion of more diverse data sources will only exacerbate this issue unless new methods are employed to consolidate and harness data. For example, a digital marketplace that consolidates health data from multiple sources can allow pharmaceutical companies to quickly query and isolate desired data sets without the lengthy manual processes typically administered by data aggregators.
Other top RWD process challenges identified through the Reuters survey include data harmonization (37%) and linkability (27%). Under-developed or non-existent industry standards surrounding patient-level health data can make normalizing assets from multiple sources a time-consuming and painstaking task. Similarly, integrating data from different sources — particularly marrying newly acquired data with existing lists — can be a delicate process requiring in-house technical and compliance expertise as well as outside expert determination. Leveraging a technology platform that does this heavy lifting for pharmaceutical companies can provide cost and time savings that provide a real competitive advantage while ensuring ongoing compliance.
There was clear consensus from the pharmaceutical leaders surveyed that RWD processes needed to improve and the enhancement most would like to see is faster speed to insight from acquired data. 67% of respondents indicated this as a top priority for improving the way they manage, store, and obtain insights from RWD. Again, digital online marketplaces can help streamline data access, analysis, and application, expediting several steps in traditional RWD processes and enabling much faster data insights.
See how Prognos Marketplace can shift the RWD paradigm and deliver faster speed to insight for your life science organization. Schedule a customized demo today.