The importance of real-world evidence in transforming healthcare decision-making

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Source: Pharmaceutical Technology

Original: https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/sponsored/real-world-evidence-and-heal...

Published: Wed, 28 Jan 2026 16:11:55 +0000

Real-world evidence (RWE) arises from the analysis of real-world data (RWD) that is collected from electronic health records, insurance claims, patient registries, and other sources.[1][6] RWEs enable healthcare providers, payers, and regulators to make more informed decisions about the safety, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of drugs and treatments.[1][2] These data include clinical and economic outcomes, patient-reported outcomes (PROs), and health-related quality of life (HRQoL).[1] The advantages of RWD over clinical trials are large population samples, representativeness of routine practice, and lower costs of real-time data acquisition.[3] Each source of RWD has its strengths and weaknesses, such as longitudinality and large population size, but lack of data on key confounding factors.[1] RWEs complement clinical trials by providing information about the wider population and help bridge the gap between research and everyday care.[2][5] In 2020, half of FDA approvals included RWE studies.[8] The use of RWE is growing due to digitization and advances in data analysis.[3][5]