Aetion Analyst Discusses Using RWE in Rare Disease Clinical Trials

Senior Scientific Analyst Adina Estrin at Aetion discusses how RWE (real world evidence) can be used in constructing external control arms (ECAs) in clinical trials. This approach is especially useful when testing drugs for rare diseases and in the oncology field. Estrin discusses considerations for designing and using ECAs. She notes that while ECAs hold enormous potential for clinical trials, they also require a robust platform and expertise from data scientists, biostatisticians, and data strategists.

According to Estrin, “ECAs have the potential to completely transform the way that we approve drugs and assess their effectiveness, and possibly even shorten the time for a critical treatment to come to market. In addition, ECA studies provide comparative results that could never be discerned from a single-arm trial, which allows regulators, clinicians, and patients to make more informed decisions around treatment choice.” Read more here.

(Source: Adina Estrin, Aetion, 4/29/21)