Use of Real-world Evidence in Economic Assessments of Pharmaceuticals in the US

In a recent study, investigators from the University of Washington School of Pharmacy reviewed cost-effectiveness and budget impact analyses in final evidence reports of pharmaceuticals published by ICER, calculating total number of RWE uses and the proportion of model inputs informed by RWE per report.

The group identified 33 reports, all of which used RWE. The average proportion of model inputs informed by RWE per report was 32.7%, with the most common being disease progression inputs (28.7%) and health care resource utilization and costs (21.1%). The most frequently used study design was a retrospective cohort (56.6%), and the most frequently used data source was registry data (41.4%). About a third (30.2%) of RWE was industry-sponsored.

The researchers concluded that despite RWE being commonly used to inform ICER’s pharmaceutical value assessments, there has been relatively limited use of RWE to inform drug-specific effectiveness, despite calls for greater inclusion of RWE in value assessments for real-world drug effectiveness. Read the full study here.

(Source: Use of real-world evidence in economic assessments of pharmaceuticals in the United States. Woojung Lee, Victoria Dayer, Boshen Jiao, Josh J Carlson, Beth Devine, and David L Veenstra. Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy 2021 27:1, 5-14)