NordicRWE reveals lung cancer immunotherapy study

The Norwegian start-up company NordicRWE has compared the effectiveness of three immunotherapies in second line treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer. The results indicate that the three immunotherapy drugs were equally effective in terms of overall survival.

“Lung cancer has historically been associated with a poor prognosis; however, new targeted therapies have significantly improved outcomes for these patients. Immunotherapies are among the new drugs introduced in Norway in recent years. The selection of the most appropriate drug for this specific indication has sparked considerable debate, particularly regarding efficacy and cost-effectiveness. We aimed to use our national registers and advanced statistical methods to answer these questions. We know that our national registers are of high and unique quality, well-suited to addressing these questions,” commented Steinar Thoresen, Medical Director at NordicRWE.

Using Norwegian health data

NordicRWE obtained extensive data from Norwegian health registries and applied advanced epidemiological methods and statistical analyses to emulate populations included in randomised clinical trials (RCTs).

“To introduce a cancer drug to the market, it is mandatory to provide evidence that the intervention is effective compared to current standard-of-care, but not to drugs being in the same drug class. As a result, head-to-head RCTs comparing the best treatments for the same condition are seldom conducted due to various reasons, such as cost, time and associated risk. This lack of comparative evidence from RCTs leads to an important evidence gap that we see can be replaced with using real-world data and advanced epidemiological research methods,” said Christian Jonasson, Research Director at NordicRWE.

“The study can be seen as a follow-up of the respective clinical trials in the real-world setting. Both patients and oncologists must ensure that the treatment administered is the most effective currently available on the market. To our knowledge, this is one of the first observational research studies that have assessed the comparative effectiveness of immunotherapies on lung cancer survival,” Thoresen added.

RWE in drug development

NordicRWE is actively engaged in real-world evidence, focusing on key areas such as the development of external control arms for clinical trials, comparative effectiveness and safety studies, and evaluating the representativeness of clinical trial populations and outcomes in real-world clinical practice.

“Real-world evidence is increasingly important in drug development and evidence generation for drug therapies. With this study, we hope to showcase the exceptional quality of Norwegian health data and demonstrate NordicRWE’s expertise in conducting rigorous epidemiological research studies. This is important with regards to establishing our solutions and services with both the global pharmaceutical industry and governmental bodies,” said Jonasson.

The current study was made possible due to a grant from The Norwegian Research Council.

The results will be presented as an abstract and oral presentation at the International Conference for Pharmacoepidemiology (ICPE) congress in Berlin on 27 August 2024. The full-length article is currently also under review with a leading journal in the field.

For more information, please contact:

Steinar Thoresen, MD, Ph.D. Medical Director

Phone: +47 907 83 736

Email: st@nordicrwe.com

Christian Jonasson, MSc. Pharm. Ph.D. Research Director

Phone: +47 909 36 941

Email: cj@nordicrwe.com