Real-world evidence (RWE) can support the evaluation of safety and efficacy for medical products, but its extent of use in labeling expansion submissions remains unclear. This study aimed to characterize the RWE used in labeling expansion or likely used, as identified through literature search, for drugs and biologics. We identified RWE used in FDA-approved labeling expansion for drug and biologic supplemental applications from January 2022 to May 2024 (Drugs@FDA), using FDA prescribing information and review documents. We also searched ClinicalTrials.gov and PubMed to identify RWE not included in the FDA approval letter and labeling but could have been incorporated into submissions by sponsors. Characteristics of the RWE were extracted and summarized. Among 218 labeling expansions granted, RWE was found in FDA documents for 3 approvals and elsewhere for 52 approvals. The proportion of approvals with RWE was 23.3

Background:The fixed-dose extended-release combination of naltrexone/bupropion (NB-ER) is indicated to treat overweight and obesity in adults as an adjunct to a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity. This study compared the rate of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and its components (nonfatal acute myocardial infarction [AMI], nonfatal stroke, and cardiovascular death) between patients initiating NB-ER and those initiating lorcaserin (removed from US market in 2020; included as active comparator to minimize possible confounding by indication) in routine clinical practice. Methods:This was a retrospective cohort study with a new-user, active-comparator design. Patients initiating NB-ER or lorcaserin were identified using Arcadia Data Research electronic health records, including insurance claims (June 2012-February 2020). Incidence rate ratios were estimated, and adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using a propensity score (PS)-weighted Cox proportional hazard model in an intention-to-treat analysis. Results:Patients initiating NB-ER (n = 12 475) or lorcaserin (n = 12 171) were followed for a mean observation period of 4.7 years. After PS weighting, baseline comorbidities, concomitant medications, lifestyle factors, and clinical measures were balanced between cohorts. MACE incidence was 0.77/1000 person-years for NB-ER and 1.03/1000 person-years for lorcaserin. Compared to lorcaserin, patients initiating NB-ER had statistically similar rates of MACE (aHR, 0.76; 95 % CI, 0.48-1.22), nonfatal AMI (aHR, 0.74; 95 % CI, 0.45-1.23), and nonfatal stroke (aHR, 1.05; 95 % CI, 0.34-3.22). No deaths were observed within 30 days of an AMI or stroke. Conclusion:Patients initiating NB-ER compared with lorcaserin were not at an increased risk of MACE or its components. Conclusions from this study must be interpreted in the context of certain assumptions related to PS methodology and use of lorcaserin as an active comparator. Causal interpretations for the cardiovascular safety of NB-ER should be evaluated further in a prospective, randomized, blinded, controlled clinical trial.

ObjectivesThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) currently regulates more than 190,000 different medical devices. Like all products, these devices may be subject to manufacturing problems, flawed designs, or new and unexpected risks, which in some cases require devices to be recalled. In 2021, the FDA’s Patient Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC) recommended that the FDA consider changes to the communication approach used for medical device recalls to make them more patient-focused, timely, and action-oriented.MethodsTo support this recommendation, we conducted a rapid review of literature published from 2008-2022 to capture and examine information on risk communication approaches, methods, and best practices for recall-related communications about medical products.ResultsWe identified 23 articles to include in our review.ConclusionOur review found a lack of research-based studies as well as gaps in understanding about consumer perspectives, comprehension, and communication preferences related to recalls. Despite these limitations, we identified current communication approaches, numerous challenges, and recommendations for communicating medical products recall information to consumers.Practice implicationsFurther research is needed to assess consumer attitudes, understanding, and preferences and to reach consensus on best practices for effectively communicating recall information to consumers of medical products.

BackgroundFollowing the identification of a late mortality signal, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) convened an advisory panel that concluded that additional clinical study data are needed to comprehensively evaluate the late mortality signal observed with the use of drug-coated balloons (DCB) and drug-eluting stent (DES). The objective of this review is to (1) identify and summarize the existing clinical and cohort studies assessing paclitaxel-coated DCBs and DESs, (2) describe and determine the quality of the available data sources for the evaluation of these devices, and (3) present methodologies that can be leveraged for proper signal discernment within available data sources.MethodsStudies and data sources were identified through comprehensive searches. original research studies, clinical trials, comparative studies, multicenter studies, and observational cohort studies written in the English language and published from January 2007 to November 2021, with a follow-up longer than 36 months, were included in the review. Data quality of available data sources identified was assessed in three groupings. Moreover, accepted data-driven methodologies that may help circumvent the limitations of the extracted studies and data sources were extracted and described.ResultsThere were 39 studies and data sources identified. This included 19 randomized clinical trials, nine single-arm studies, eight registries, three administrative claims, and electronic health records. Methodologies focusing on the use of existing premarket clinical data, the incorporation of all contributed patient time, the use of aggregated data, approaches for individual-level data, machine learning and artificial intelligence approaches, Bayesian approaches, and the combination of various datasets were summarized.ConclusionDespite the multitude of available studies over the course of eleven years following the first clinical trial, the FDA-convened advisory panel found them insufficient for comprehensively assessing the late-mortality signal. High-quality data sources with the capabilities of employing advanced statistical methodologies are needed to detect potential safety signals in a timely manner and allow regulatory bodies to act quickly when a safety signal is detected.

ABSTRACT Intrauterine device (IUD) expulsion is more common among women with heavy menstrual bleeding, parity, higher body mass index (BMI), younger age, dysmenorrhea, or immediate postabortion or postpartum insertion. The APEX-IUD study was an observational cohort study of 326,658 individuals examining the association with breastfeeding, IUD type, and timing of postpartum IUD insertion with IUD expulsion and uterine perforation. This data set provides an opportunity to examine specific demographic, reproductive, and medical risk factors associated with IUD expulsion. This analysis of APEX-IUD data aimed to determine the associations of 6 risk factors (age, race/ethnicity, parity, BMI, heavy menstrual bleeding, and dysmenorrhea) and IUD expulsion, as well as the extent to which these associations differed for LNG-IUD compared with copper IUD users. Individuals aged 50 years or younger at the time of IUD insertion without a delivery 52 weeks or less before insertion were included. Individuals were followed from IUD insertion until IUD expulsion, uterine perforation, removal, reinsertion, expiration, pregnancy, hysterectomy, death, disenrollment from the health care system, or end of study period (June 2018). Crude incidence rates for each risk factor category were calculated using the number of expulsions during the time at risk divided by the total person-years at risk and were reported as the number of expulsions per 1000 person-years at risk. Hazards ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals from Cox regression models were used to evaluate associations of the risk factors with IUD expulsion. These models were adjusted for potential confounding effects and were separately used to assess the association of covariates with IUD expulsion varied by IUD type. The total study cohort included 228,834 individuals (LNG-IUD: 184,733 [80.7%]; copper IUD: 41,123 [18.0%]; unknown type: 2978 [1/3%]). The average length of follow-up was 2.0 years, and there were 6762 expulsions with a crude incidence rate of 14.9 per 1000 person-years (95% confidence interval, 14.6–15.3). Adjusted hazards ratios (aHRs) showed the younger age groups having a higher risk of IUD expulsion and a trend toward lower aHRs with increasing age. Individuals with parity of 4 or more had the highest risk of IUD expulsion, and a parity of 2 was associated with the lowest risk on adjusted analysis. Adjusted analysis revealed a greater risk of IUD expulsion among individuals with higher BMI or heavy menstrual bleeding diagnosis compared with the comparator group. Multiple racial and ethnic groups including non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic Black, Hispanic White, Asian, or Pacific Islander were associated with a greater risk of IUD expulsion compared with non-Hispanic Whites when adjusting for covariates. When comparing aHRs by copper IUD or LNG-IUD; younger age was more strongly associated with expulsion among copper IUD users than LNG-IUD users, the risk for expulsion associated with obesity was significantly attenuated for copper IUD users compared with LNG-IUD users, and the risk of expulsion for those with heavy menstrual bleeding was partially attenuated by copper IUDs. Adjusted analysis revealed no association between dysmenorrhea and IUD expulsion. The results of this study show that, among the 6 risk factors investigated here, the risk of IUD expulsion was highest among individuals with a diagnosis of heavy menstrual bleeding, particularly in recent and past periods.

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) is a rare progressive or relapsing inflammatory disease. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is recommended as a first-line therapy. The aim of this study was to describe real-world treatment patterns and outcomes of patients with CIDP in the Define initiating IVIG treatment. This cohort study used health insurance claims data from the Merative MarketScan Research Databases (2008–2018). Adult patients (≥ 18 years old) with CIDP without prior immunoglobulin treatment were identified using International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) codes, and patients subsequently initiating IVIG were included in the analysis. Real-world IVIG treatment patterns and treatment and safety outcomes (assessed via ICD codes) were described. In total, 3975 patients (median age 58 years) with CIDP who initiated IVIG were identified. After the initial IVIG loading period, patients received IVIG at a median dosing interval of 21 days (quartile [Q]1, Q3: 7, 28), and continued treatment for a median of 129 days (Q1, Q3: 85, 271). After the 2-year follow-up period, 55

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is recommended as first-line therapy for chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP), an immune-mediated neuropathy. The clinical profile of patients with CIDP newly initiating IVIG is poorly characterized. This claims-based cohort study describes characteristics of US patients with CIDP initiating IVIG treatment. Adult immunoglobulin (IG)-naïve patients with CIDP diagnosed between 2008 and 2018 and a subgroup of patients subsequently initiating IVIG were identified in the Merative MarketScan Research Databases. Demographics, clinical characteristics, and diagnostic procedures were described for patients initiating IVIG. Of 32,090 patients with CIDP identified, 3975 (mean age 57 years) subsequently initiated IVIG. In the 6 months prior to IVIG initiation, diagnoses of comorbidities including neuropathy (75

PURPOSE:High-quality evidence is crucial for health care intervention decision-making. These decisions frequently use nonrandomized data, which can be more vulnerable to biases than randomized trials. Accordingly, methods to quantify biases and weigh available evidence could elucidate the robustness of findings, giving regulators more confidence in making approval and reimbursement decisions.METHODS:We conducted an integrative literature review to identify methods for determining probability of causation, evaluating weight of evidence, and conducting quantitative bias analysis as related to health care interventions. Eligible studies were published from 2012 to 2021, applicable to pharmacoepidemiology, and presented a method that met our objective.FINDINGS:Twenty-two eligible studies were classified into 4 categories: (1) quantitative bias analysis; (2) weight of evidence methods; (3) Bayesian networks; and (4) miscellaneous. All of the methods have strengths, limitations, and situations in which they are more well suited than others. Some methods seem to lend themselves more to applications of health care evidence on medical interventions than others.IMPLICATIONS:To provide robust evidence for and improve confidence in regulatory or reimbursement decisions, we recommend applying multiple methods to triangulate associations of medical interventions, accounting for biases in different ways. This approach could lead to well-defined robustness assessments of study findings and appropriate science-driven decisions by regulators and payers for public health.

OBJECTIVE:The APEX-IUD (Association of Perforation and Expulsion of Intrauterine Devices) study evaluated the association of postpartum timing of intrauterine device (IUD) insertion, breastfeeding, heavy menstrual bleeding, and IUD type (levonorgestrel-releasing vs copper) with risks of uterine perforation and IUD expulsion in usual clinical practice. We summarize the clinically important findings to inform counseling and shared decision making.METHODS:APEX-IUD was a real-world (using U.S. health care data) retrospective cohort study of individuals aged 50 years and younger with IUD insertions between 2001 and 2018 and with electronic health record data. Cumulative incidences of uterine perforation and IUD expulsion were calculated. Adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) and 95% CIs were estimated from proportional hazards models with control of confounding.RESULTS:Among the study population of 326,658, absolute risk of uterine perforation was low overall (cumulative incidence, 0.21% [95% CI 0.19-0.23%] at 1 year and 0.61% [95% CI 0.56-0.66% at 5 years]) but was elevated for IUDs inserted during time intervals within 1 year postpartum, particularly among those between 4 days and 6 weeks postpartum (aHR 6.71, 95% CI 4.80-9.38), relative to nonpostpartum insertions. Among postpartum insertions, IUD expulsion risk was greatest for insertions in the immediate postpartum period (0-3 days after delivery) compared with nonpostpartum (aHR 5.34, 95% CI 4.47-6.39). Postpartum individuals who were breastfeeding had a slightly elevated risk of perforation and lowered risk of expulsion than those not breastfeeding. Among nonpostpartum individuals, those with a heavy menstrual bleeding diagnosis were at greater risk of expulsion than those without (aHR 2.84, 95% CI 2.66-3.03); heavy menstrual bleeding also was associated with a slightly elevated perforation risk. There was a slightly elevated perforation risk and slightly lower expulsion risk associated with levonorgestrel-releasing IUDs compared with copper IUDs.CONCLUSION:Absolute risk of adverse outcomes with IUD insertion is low. Clinicians should be aware of the differences in risks of uterine perforation and expulsion associated with IUD insertion during specific postpartum time periods and with a heavy menstrual bleeding diagnosis. This information should be incorporated into counseling and decision making for patients considering IUD insertion.FUNDING SOURCE:Bayer AG.

Patients with overactive bladder (OAB) experience sudden, intense urges to urinate, which may include urge urinary incontinence and nocturia. Pharmacotherapy includes β3-adrenergic receptor agonists such as mirabegron; however, mirabegron contains a label warning for cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2D6 inhibition, making coadministration with CYP2D6 substrates require monitoring and dose adjustment to avoid unintended increases in substrate concentration. To understand the codispensing patterns of mirabegron among patients using ten predefined CYP2D6 substrates with and before mirabegron dispensing. This retrospective claims database analysis used the IQVIA PharMetrics® Plus Database to assess codispensing of mirabegron with ten predefined CYP2D6 substrate groups identified on the basis of medications most frequently prescribed in the United States, those with high susceptibility to CYP2D6 inhibition, and those with evidence for exposure-related toxicity. Patients had to be ≥ 18 years old before initiation of the CYP2D6 substrate episode that overlapped with mirabegron. The cohort entry period was November 2012 to September 2019, and the overall study period was 1 January 2011 to 30 September 2019. Comparisons of patient profiles at dispensing were made between time periods with and before mirabegron use in the same patient. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the number of exposure episodes, total duration of exposure, and median duration of exposure of CYP2D6 substrate dispensing with and before mirabegron. CYP2D6 substrate exposure periods totaling ≥ 9000 person-months were available before overlapping exposure to mirabegron for all ten CYP2D6 substrate cohorts. Median codispensing duration for chronically administered CYP2D6 substrates was 62 (interquartile range [IQR] 91) days for citalopram/escitalopram, 71 (105) days for duloxetine/venlafaxine, and 75 (115) days for metoprolol/carvedilol; median codispensing duration for acutely administered CYP2D6 substrates was 15 (33) days for tramadol and 9 (18) days for hydrocodone. In this claims database analysis, the dispensing patterns of CYP2D6 substrates with mirabegron displayed frequent overlapping of exposure. Thus, a need exists to better understand the outcomes experienced by patients with OAB who are at increased risk for drug‒drug interactions when taking multiple CYP2D6 substrates concurrently with a CYP2D6 inhibitor.

Real-world healthcare data, including administrative and electronic medical record databases, provide a rich source of data for the conduct of pharmacoepidemiologic studies but carry the potential for misclassification of health outcomes of interest (HOIs). Validation studies are important ways to quantify the degree of error associated with case-identifying algorithms for HOIs and are crucial for interpreting study findings within real-world data. This review provides a rationale, framework, and step-by-step approach to validating case-identifying algorithms for HOIs within healthcare databases. Key steps in validating a case-identifying algorithm within a healthcare database include: (1) selecting the appropriate health outcome; (2) determining the reference standard against which to validate the algorithm; (3) developing the algorithm using diagnosis codes, diagnostic tests or their results, procedures, drug therapies, patient-reported symptoms or diagnoses, or some combinations of these parameters; (4) selection of patients and sample sizes for validation; (5) collecting data to confirm the HOI; (6) confirming the HOI; and (7) assessing the algorithm's performance. Additional strategies for algorithm refinement and methods to correct for bias due to misclassification of outcomes are discussed. The review concludes by discussing factors affecting the transportability of case-identifying algorithms and the need for ongoing validation as data elements within healthcare databases, such as diagnosis codes, change over time or new variables, such as patient-generated health data, are included in these data sources.