The IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science spent the past year addressing major health system issues and contributing to a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities that impact the transformation of healthcare. The Institute researched and published 16 reports, hosted 11 public webinars, convened 6 multi-stakeholder roundtables, and participated in more than 50 external forums, helping to drive and inform important conversations on the future of healthcare.

Our work in 2021 provides a solid foundation for thinking about 2022 and beyond, as we collectively shift our focus from mitigating the pandemic to opening new horizons for positive, sustainable transformation in healthcare. This year is about continuing that transformation and further opening the research aperture for a broader understanding of how Human Data Science can contribute to improve patient outcomes, advance population health and ensure sustainable health systems.

IQVIA Research Forum

The Institute convened the annual IQVIA Research Forum, which brings together multi-disciplinary researchers in academia and other public and private institutions to exchange perspectives in advancing understanding of critical healthcare-related issues through evidence-based research. This year’s forum focused on Expanding the Research Aperture to Advance Healthcare by Applying Human Data Science and included sessions on assessing U.S. health policy initiatives and implications, validating AI/ML applications and the implications for research, understanding the evolving landscape of research through real-world evidence and learning health systems, advancing public health research through innovative approaches, and forging novel pathways to advance health services research. You may view session videos on our Research Forumpage and get a summary of the forum in this blog: Expanding the Research Aperture to Advance Healthcare by Applying Human Data Science

Patient Advocacy Summit

In the past year, the IQVIA Institute also took a similar, broader look at the emerging role of patient advocacy organizations as critical agents in accelerating healthcare innovation based on patient-centered evidence-generation. Patient organizations are becoming the fulcrum for change in healthcare transformation toward patient-centered science. On December 1, 2021, the IQVIA Institute, in conjunction with IQVIA Healthcare Solutions, convened an invitation-only summit for patient organization leaders: Patient Advocacy Summit – Helping Nonprofit Organizations Support Patients through Advocacy-Led Research and Data Initiatives. This event brought together more than 100 participants from patient organizations and foundations to participate in thought-provoking conversations, to explore ideas and best practices around relevant and timely patient driven research and health data topics, and to consider ways to empower patient groups. The report from the Patient Advocacy Summit and videos from the summit sessions are forthcoming and will be available at www.iqviainstitute.org.

We have curated below some of the year’s other highlights, drawn from our published research, that will link you to relevant reports on these same topics.

Building Resilient Health Systems Post COVID-19

• In the report Assessing the Global Burden of Post-COVID-19 Conditions, the IQVIA Institute quantified the magnitude of patients with post-COVID-19 conditions based on analysis of medical open claims data and a review of the growing body of literature globally.
• To understand the impact and implications of Post-COVID-19 conditions, the Institute conducted a multidisciplinary roundtable, in partnership with IQVIA’s CNS Center of Excellence, entitled, Advancing R&D and Innovation for the Treatment of PASC – Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (Long COVID). The roundtable discussed the underlying mechanisms of the PASC syndrome, explored recommendations for clinical research and real-world generation, and considered pathways for new therapeutics as well as repurposing of existing drugs to treat patients at risk for severe PASC. A proceedings report will be published in early 2022 and available at Roundtables for Radical Collaboration
• The Institute report, Cancer Can’t Wait – Building Resilience in Cancer Screening and Diagnostics in Europe Based on Lessons from the Pandemic highlights the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on health services across Europe, which in most cases led to significant reductions in cancer screening, testing and diagnosis impacting cancer treatment and survival for many years to come.
• In a similar fashion, the report Lung Cancer Can’t Wait – Building Resilience in Lung Cancer Screening and Diagnostics Based on Lessons from the Pandemic finds the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on lung cancer screening and diagnostics has been profound, causing advances in treatment and development of new technologies to be severely curtailed through this period.

Advancing Innovations in R&D, Data Science and Digital Health

• The report Global Trends in R&D – Overview through 2020 examines trends in pharmaceutical research and development through the end of 2020. It provides an analysis of initiated clinical trials, including the impact of the pandemic and COVID-19-specific research.
• To assess the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in the healthcare ecosystem and to advance the adoption of AI & ML in the future, the IQVIA Institute convened a virtual multidisciplinary panel of experts to discuss Harnessing AI to Advance Mainstream Medicine through Human Data Science. The panel pointed to the partnership between data scientists and clinical researchers as a fundamental prerequisite for successful adoption of AI at scale in healthcare. Human Data Science can help humanize AI & ML and generate acceptance of AI & ML by ensuring the involvement of human scientists with expertise in the etiology and pathophysiology of disease and clinicians with experience from the point of care. The report from the panel is forthcoming and will be available at Human Data Science Labs
• Health registry programs are in high demand and are undergoing rapid evolution, increasing in breadth and accelerating their data velocity, driven by regulatory, technical, commercial, cultural, and practical factors. To discuss the changing role of health registries, the IQVIA Institute convened a multi-stakeholder discussion entitled, Registries and Beyond: Future of Learning Health Systems in partnership with the IQVIA Registry Practice Center of Excellence. A report is forthcoming and will be available at Human Data Science Labs.

Impact of Digital Tools on Patient Care and Clinical Trial Design

As digital tools, including mobile health apps, wearable sensors, and digital therapeutics, begin to have a fundamental impact on patient care and influence clinical trial design, it is important to assess the innovation and evidence they contribute as well as the barriers to and facilitators of their adoption. This study of Digital Health Trends 2021 – Innovation, Evidence, Regulation, and Adoption covers trends in four areas — innovation, evidence, regulation, and adoption — to assess how these new tools are becoming an entirely new therapeutic modality alongside traditional medicines and medical devices.

Accelerating Innovations in Oncology

• Despite the COVID-19 pandemic having a substantial impact on patient care during 2020, the scientific advances in oncology continued with significant clinical trial activity, the pipeline of new treatments, and the increased use of available therapeutics. In the report Global Oncology Trends – Outlook to 2025, the Institute highlights how the innovations in oncology continued largely unaffected and reflect the commitment to advancing care for patients by oncologists, other care providers, governments and payers, and life sciences companies.
• The report Evolving Oncology Endpoints – A New Horizon for Oncology Outcomes examines trends in new and evolving oncology endpoints being studied in clinical trials. It also looks closely at how these evolving endpoints could potentially be used to evaluate clinical benefit, support regulatory approval, and inform payer reimbursement decisions effectively and more efficiently.
• The impact and implications of the Research to Accelerate Cures and Equity (RACE) for Children Act came into effect on August 18, 2020. According to an analysis by IQVIA, the RACE for Children Act will have significant impact on cancer drug development. To discuss this challenge, the IQVIA Institute roundtable convened a roundtable entitled, Advancing Pediatric Cancer Research – Impact and Implications of the RACE for Children Act with participants representing the patient and parent community, the Children’s Oncology Group, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), pediatric oncology clinical investigators from the U.S. and Europe, biopharmaceutical companies, and IQVIA executives. Download the report from the roundtable here.

Understanding Medicine Use, Costs, and Drug Spending Dynamics

• The report on Global Medicine Spending and Usage Trends – Outlook to 2025examines trends in medicine spending along with factors influencing growth, including patent expiries, launches of new medicines, and changes in demand and use, particularly in pharmerging and lower income countries. The future level of global spending on medicines has implications for healthcare systems and policymakers across developed and emerging economies, and these issues are even more important in light of the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic.
• The report The Use of Medicines in the U.S. – Spending and Usage Trends and Outlook to 2025 shows how the U.S. health system demonstrated resilience and flexibility during 2020, recovering toward its pre-pandemic levels of activity and progressing into 2021, even as the backlog of missed or delayed activity remained substantial.
• While the level of drug expenditure is closely watched and often commented upon, the composition of that expenditure and its dynamics are not as well understood. Typically, official statistics of drug spending only include drugs dispensed in pharmacies and do not include drugs used in hospitals, an issue which raises questions about their representativeness of total drug spending. In the Institute report, Drug Expenditure Dynamics 1995-2020 – Understanding Medicine Spending in Context, for the first time we have included estimates of total drug spending, including hospitals and net of discounts and rebates.
• In the report The Global Use of Medicines 2022 – Outlook to 2026, the Institute shows how global spending on medicines continues to be driven by innovation and offset by losses of exclusivity and the lower costs of generics and biosimilars. The largest driver of medicine spending through the next five years is expected to be global COVID-19 vaccinations, which are unprecedented both because of the number of people being inoculated and the speed with which it is expected to be achieved and then repeated with frequent booster shots.

Optimizing Sustainable Health Systems

• The report Spotlight on Biosimilars – Optimising the Sustainability of Health Systems highlights examples of the benefits biosimilar competition can create as well as how these benefits can be unlocked through optimization.
• To explore the evidence and paths for transforming care toward home health and to discuss the benefits and challenges around home health services, the IQVIA Institute convened a virtual, multidisciplinary panel entitled, Advancing Health Outcomes through Home Healthcare – Bringing Home-based Healthcare to Scale. The panel convened 12 experts from relevant fields – academic research, clinical medicine, home care, health policy, health insurance, patient advocacy, health economy, and the life sciences industry – to discuss these topics, incubate new ideas, and consider new approaches for research and collaboration to advance home health. Download proceedings from the Human Data Science lab here.
• As a follow up to the Human Data Science lab about home healthcare, IQVIA convened a roundtable entitled, Improving Patient Adherence and Health Outcomes through Patient Services and Homed-Based Healthcare. This virtual roundtable was convened in partnership between IQVIA Patient Support & Nursing Services and the IQVIA Institute and included participation from seven external representatives of large and small life sciences companies, providers, and patient advocacy groups. The roundtable discussed how patient services delivered in the patient’s home are evolving as an area of growing interest within the life sciences industry to advance adherence and outcomes for patients with complex, specialty therapies. Download the report from the roundtable here.
• The case study Optimizing Healthcare Sustainability in Japan – A Diabetes Case Study is based on discussions during the Health Innovation Forum (HIF) 2021, held on June 9, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. The theme of the Forum was: What does a sustainable healthcare system mean and what is the role of innovation? More than 400 participants joined digitally, including representatives from Japan's government, payers, industry, healthcare systems, and patient advocacy groups.
• Innovative therapies developed by the pharmaceutical industry have helped to substantially improve the quality of life for millions of people globally. Demand for these medicines continues to grow due to increasing urbanization and sociodemographic factors. In Latin America, as in other developing regions, this poses a burden for governments and private sector actors as they face limited resources while trying to meet international healthcare standards. The Institute report Valuing the Research-based Pharmaceutical Industry in Latin-America – Assessing the Economic and Societal Footprint examines the role of the pharmaceutical industry in alleviating both challenges to understand how people are benefiting from innovative medicines.
• The Institute report on The Impact of Pharmaceutical IP Provisions in EU Free Trade Agreements examines the impact of past EU FTAs on drug spending, timing of countries’ access to new medicines after global launch, investments overall and in pharmaceuticals, and clinical trial participation.
• Advancing toward a more connected, cohesive healthcare system requires using the right data and insights for the right patients to overcome challenges in the patient journey across sectors and to improve quality of care, patient satisfaction, and efficiency of care delivery. This blog entitled, Advancing Data-Driven Quality in Connected Health and Social Care offers key takeaways from a multi-stakeholder roundtable with participation of the Danish Ministry of Health, Danish Regions, municipalities, physician associations, Health Innovation Manchester, and the IQVIA Institute.

Continue to follow our work in 2022 to learn about the positive, sustainable transformation we expect for healthcare.