Companies Increasingly Leverage Dedicated Patient-Reported Outcomes Teams

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC--(Marketwired - October 28, 2015) - Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) have become increasingly important to life sciences companies as they evaluate their clinical trial findings. As such, many teams have begun to leverage dedicated PRO teams. However, for those companies that do not currently benefit from dedicated support, PRO efforts may reflect a consolidated effort between other functions, according to business intelligence firm Cutting Edge Information.

PRO structures depend upon a number of factors, including the extent of upper management buy-in and the level of in-house capabilities. Some companies adopt a global approach, whereas others prefer to adopt brand-specific approaches. Additionally, many teams have begun to leverage dedicated PRO teams.

"While PRO-focused groups are important, they are a relatively new phenomenon as payers and health technology assessments look to these endpoints to make critical reimbursement and market access decisions," said Victoria Cavicchi, research analyst at Cutting Edge Information. "However, companies with these groups hold competitive advantages over those that do not. As many surveyed executives have experienced, dedicated groups work hand-in-hand with clinical and market access functions to provide consolidated PRO expertise, guide the direction of clinical trials and facilitate a smooth reimbursement process."

According to Patient-Reported Outcomes: Infusing the Healthcare Consumer Voice into Clinical Development and Reimbursement, companies that do not have a dedicated PRO team may rely on the consolidated efforts between health economics and outcomes research, clinical operations and medical affairs groups. Among survey respondents, large pharma companies typically draw upon clinical, HEOR and medical affairs teams to provide PRO support. Surveyed small pharma companies, on the other hand, tend to leverage FTEs from their clinical function.

Cutting Edge Information's PROs report provides insights and metrics, collected through primary research that life sciences executives can leverage to:

• Add PRO endpoints and measurements into clinical trials to add value to drug dossiers/payer discussions;
• Develop and standardize in-house PRO development and implementation practices;
• Determine best-fit PRO measurements as well as decide how many to use and how to leverage them in regulatory and reimbursement discussions;
• Build and allocate resources to dedicated PRO teams; and
• Understand emerging topics and trends in the PRO space, including the rise of ePRO technology and its impact on data quality.

To learn more about Cutting Edge Information's patient-reported outcomes research, please visit http://cuttingedgeinfo.com/.