AstraZeneca links with IMS on real-world evidence

Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) has entered into a three-year collaboration agreement with health care information provider IMS Health to advance the use of real-world evidence based on observational and retrospective studies throughout Europe to inform the delivery of effective and cost-efficient health care. Financial terms of the collaboration accord are not disclosed.

The partnership with IMS Health will give AstraZeneca access to pre-existing anonymized electronic health records, which include clinical outcome, economic and treatment pattern data. In addition, the companies will jointly develop a customized research and data analysis platform. The information will provide a deeper insight into how medicines that are already on the market are working in real-world settings across Europe, painting a picture of unmet needs in the current standard of care and treatment patterns across a number of therapeutic areas, with an emphasis on chronic illnesses. The data will also be used to inform AstraZeneca’s discovery and clinical development programs.

Martin Mackay, AstraZeneca’s president of R&D, said: “Our collaboration with IMS is a key milestone in our commitment to understand the impact of our medicines in the real world, beyond what we see in controlled clinical trials. This insight will help us and healthcare decision-makers to improve the treatment of disease and ensure effective use of medicines to minimize the burden on individuals and healthcare budgets.”