Webinar
Measuring Patient Physical Functioning in Oncology Research
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September 16, 2025

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11:00am - 11:30am

(GMT-04:00)

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Cancer patients often experience rapid and long-term declines in physical functioning due to disease symptoms and treatment effects, leading to increased healthcare costs and higher risks of mortality and morbidity. Recognizing its significance, the FDA Oncology Center of Excellence has identified physical functioning as a key outcome in cancer clinical trials. The FDA considers it a direct measure of treatment impact, best assessed through standardized patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments, which complement other clinical endpoints in cancer drug development.

Several PRO instruments have been used frequently to measure physical functioning in cancer trials, such as the EORTC QLQ-C30 (Fayers 2002), the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Physical Functioning short-forms (Rose 2008), and the SF-36 Health Survey (Ware 1992). These instruments have been shown to be reliable and valid in cancer patients, and there is a lot of overlap in item content between them. Despite the availability of these PRO instruments, there is room for improvement.

IQVIA’s THRIVE Physical Functioning measure was developed to address several limitations with the existing instruments. This includes the need for more diversity in the characteristics of participants involved in qualitative research aimed to develop PRO item content – and more importantly, the need for cancer specific benchmarking and natural history profile data to support trial investigators as they interpret the meaningfulness of cancer trial outcomes.

Join IQVIA's Patient Centered Solutions (PCS) team as we address the following topics:

  • Exploring a novel approach to conducting qualitative research to ensure a more diverse background of cancer types and demographic characteristics among study participants, while promoting a more efficient instrument development process
  • Discussing approaches to improving the interpretation and meaningfulness of PRO outcomes in cancer trials through the benchmarking and natural history data

 

Fayers P, Bottomley A. Quality of life research within the EORTC – the EORTC QLQ-C30. European Journal of Cancer 2002;38(4)Suppl: 125-133.
Rose M, Bjorner JB, Becker J, Fries JF, Ware JE. Evaluation of a preliminary physical function item bank supported the expected advantages of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 2008; 61(1):17–33.
Ware JE Jr, Sherbourne CD. The MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36). I. Conceptual framework and item selection. Medical Care. 1992; 30(6):473–483.

Speaker

Mark Kosinski

Senior Principal Scientist, IQVIA Patient Centered Solutions
Mark Kosinski has 35 years of experience in developing and analyzing patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures. He was involved with the development and validation of the SF-36®, SF-12® and the SF-8™ Health Surveys, the Asthma Control Test™ (ACT™), the Headache Impact Test™ (HIT-6™), and other industry-sponsored PRO measures, as well as the development and analysis of item banks for computerized adaptive health assessments. Mark has co-authored more than 300 peer-reviewed journal articles related to the development and analysis of PRO measures used in clinical research, randomized controlled trials, and population health initiatives. He has also contributed to the development of 10 manuals and interpretation guides for various PRO measures including the SF-36, SF-12, and SF-8. Over the past 27 years, he has been actively involved in working with the pharmaceutical industry in the analysis of clinical trial data with PRO measures as secondary indicators of treatment efficacy and providing the industry with regulatory support in developing PRO evidence dossiers, briefing books, and Type B and Type C meeting attendance. Mark earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Connecticut and his master’s in industrial-organizational psychology from Bridgewater State University.

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