The value of pragmatic trials to life science product developers

Perspective: Insights-driven outcomes | Capability: Research | By: Carelon Research

Pragmatic trials, with their wide range of benefits, will play a significant role in the future of outcomes research. Carelon business Carelon Research explores why this study design is so critical.

Healthcare stakeholders are increasingly demanding higher levels of real-world evidence. As the volume and price tag of novel therapies continue to grow within a resource-limited environment, the decisions of payors and policy-makers must be even more well-informed and precise.

Seeking higher levels of real-world evidence

Life science product developers must therefore evolve their post-approval evidence portfolio to further emphasize the combined safety, effectiveness and value of their products in real-world patient populations in order to sustain or advance the success of their products in the marketplace.

For the biopharma industry, pragmatic trials uniquely offer solutions to address the growing demands of healthcare payors and policy makers for high-quality evidence of therapeutic safety, effectiveness and economic value.

What are pragmatic trials?

Pragmatic trials are studies designed for the primary purpose of informing decision-makers regarding the comparative balance of benefits, burdens, and risks of a biomedical or behavioral health intervention at the individual or population level.¹

Benefits of pragmatic trials

Pragmatic trials can provide evidence to:

• Support reimbursement and pricing by demonstrating real-world product performance and economic value increasingly required by payors
  
• Demonstrate product effectiveness and safety including greater insight into sub-group variations in outcomes in post-approval medical practice sought by regulators
  
• Enhance competitive position by demonstrating product benefits to prescribers and patients, often relative to current standards of care
  
• Increase research efficiencies by applying new health data sources and advances in information technology to answer research questions pertaining to real-world performance faster, and at reduced cost

Where should pragmatic trials be conducted?

Carelon Research believes pragmatic trials will be a large part of the future of outcomes research — to understanding life science products in real-world settings, evaluating comparative effectiveness, and helping to improve patient care.

Today, evolving health systems, where there is good collaboration between providers and payors in the conduct of research, are among the primary recipients of real-world evidence and the ideal facilitators of pragmatic trials in the United States. By their nature, these studies seek to replicate routine clinical practice and patients’ experiences in real-world, community settings – many aspects of which are both documented and managed by the policies, processes and care delivery channels maintained by health systems. As such, evolving health systems are uniquely positioned to provide the most suitable real-world environment to conduct pragmatic trials.

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Source:

1. National Library of Medicine website: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26374676 .