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  • Pharmaceutical Manufacturers
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Pharmaceutical Manufacturers

Leveraging the power of the IQVIA CORE, we support Canada’s pharmaceutical manufacturers as they invest in, and advance, human health. We do this via breakthroughs in insights, technology, analytics and human intelligence that bring the progress in data science together with the possibilities of human science.

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Hospital and Healthcare Providers

Hospitals and healthcare providers are looking for cutting-edge decision support to augment their strategy and performance so they can focus on delivering high quality value to patients. As the Human Data Science Company, IQVIA is uniquely positioned to provide actionable data, innovative technology, and expertise customized to the hospital and provider community.

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Pharmacy

A specialized division of IQVIA (Canada), Health Industry Information Services (HIIS) serves the precise needs of non-pharmaceutical healthcare stakeholders including Retail Pharmacy, Independent Pharmacy, and Specialty Pharmacy.

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Governments

Almost everything we do is powered by the IQVIA CORE. This holistic approach allows us to use Human Data Science to create integrated solutions for our customers.

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Private Payers and Insurers

Health benefit analytics for effective response to market changes.

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Academics and Researchers

Take your research further. Data assets that allow you to explore new areas in inquiry that can advance public health efforts. IQVIA supports the Canadian research community and has responded to hundreds of requests to support new areas of inquiry.

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Explore our library of resources spanning the healthcare ecosystem. Hear from IQVIA data scientists, doctors, researchers, and other experts on the topics, trends, and market developments that matter to you.

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PHARMACEUTICAL TRENDS

Media representatives and other industry stakeholders can access current and historical top-line Canada and global pharmaceutical trends for use in story development or vital health research.

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"View our on-demand and upcoming webinars.

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CAREERS CANADA

Why work at IQVIA Canada? Help create a healthier world; start right here where we offer a diversity of opportunities.

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Our passion to make an impact is fueled by the people we work with, a curiosity to bring new ideas to life, and a focus on always doing better.

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PRIVACY

Use and benefits of anonymized clinical data in real world research and analytics

Locations Canada Privacy and Data Governance Commitment Use and benefits of anonymized clinical data in real world research and analytics
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At IQVIA, the purpose of our Real World Evidence (RWE) analytics and services is to provide robust real-world evidence and research for clinicians, policy makers, and other healthcare stakeholders to use in improving the health and well-being of Canadians. Access to quality real-world datasets for research by academia, non-profit organizations, governments, and medical manufacturers provides a better understanding of the patient population, including the ability to evaluate unmet needs, compare costs and effectiveness of treatments, find connections between diseases, and gain new insights to advance patient care. IQVIA’s RWE services are designed to meet these goals and support better-informed healthcare decision-making, in a way that ultimately helps improve health outcomes for all Canadians.

IQVIA provides RWE services and analytics to various healthcare stakeholders including biotech, medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers, as well as medical researchers, government agencies (including Health Canada), private and public insurers, professional bodies, and patient organizations. However, IQVIA never collects personal information from patient medical records to create its data analytics offerings.

Patient privacy is paramount. In generating analytics for the healthcare community, IQVIA does not collect or receive any personally identifiable patient information, nor does it ever have access to patient medical records. Real world data is derived from fully anonymized electronic medical records collected from patient management software that is used by general practitioners and select specialists within their community-based offices. Before ever sending us the data, the clinics in question put the
data through a software based state-of-the-art anonymization process, to produce patient-level RWE data that is appropriate for use in research. That anonymization process goes far beyond simply removing patient-level identifiers, and strictly follows the detailed guidance issued by the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, as well as all other applicable standards. As such, IQVIA’s real-world analytics are delivered in full compliance with all Canadian legal requirements and to the highest standards of privacy protection.

IQVIA only sources anonymized RWE data from suppliers who are transparent with patients about their data practices. When sourcing the raw data for these products and services, IQVIA always puts in place express contractual provisions requiring its data suppliers to anonymize the data before it is sent to us, so that it does not identify — directly or indirectly — any individual patient. Furthermore, IQVIA always structures its data supply arrangements so that those arrangements do not contain any incentives, pressures, or means to influence the decisions made by healthcare professionals about how to provide care. IQVIA also regularly obtains arm’s length Re-identification Risk Determinations on its supply of RWE data to ensure that the dataset continues to meet the prevailing standards for anonymization and remains properly risk-mitigated against changes in the technological landscape. Once in-house, the RWE data is also subject to IQVIA’s robust information governance framework, including strict requirements that disallow any use of the data, whether by IQVIA or its clients, for commercial or marketing related purposes.

IQVIA maintains a robust information governance and privacy-by-design model to ensure that its sourcing and use of RWE data complies with all prevailing federal and provincial privacy laws and regulations. After its anonymization by our data suppliers, the RWE data is transferred to a secure environment at IQVIA where data scientists can perform clinical research studies (RWE studies) and healthcare access and outcomes research on behalf of provider groups, government bodies, and the
pharmaceutical industry. Whether analyzed by IQVIA or by third party clients and researchers, the data made available for medical and scientific research purposes only, in a manner that prioritizes the improvement of Canadian healthcare, the respect for the professional judgement of healthcare professionals, and the personal autonomy of patients. IQVIA’s RWE data is even made available at no cost to academic researchers such as St-Michael’s Hospital, Université de Montréal, and the University of Toronto, who conduct research to generate insights on:
  • Treating and preventing illness
  • Analysis of costs, benefits, and financial management of healthcare (i.e. health economics)
  • Evaluation of the safety of and/or efficacy of drugs and devices in patients (i.e. post-marketing surveillance)
  • Measuring the impact of a public health program over time

Real-world data derived from anonymized medical records can help medical researchers understand many aspects of disease treatment that cannot be understood from regular clinical trials, including intervention decisions/patterns, long-term outcomes, adherence and persistence, rare adverse treatment effects, and interactions with comorbidities/concomitant medications.

Numerous scientific studies are based on anonymized patient-level data. Below are some examples of IQVIA published studies:

  • Cross-sectional study of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on diabetes management in primary care in Ontario, Canada
  • Characterization of statin effectiveness using real-world data in a Canadian population
  • A novel method using prescription treatment patterns to estimate heart failure prevalence in Canada
  • Using electronic medical records to better understand the relationship between testing, diagnosis, and treatment of bacterial infections
  • Understanding treatment patterns of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) in patients with the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis (OA) rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS)

Comparing real world management of hypertension in patients with diabetes versus Canadian clinical guidelines

Examples of the research which this data has enabled are available at the following link: rwe-bibliography-brochure_as-of-october-2024.pdf

Learn more about the responsible handling of health information in Canada.