CER Daily Newsfeed

Pitt Researchers Leading $27M Grant to Study Children's Antibiotics

(11/25, Kat Procyk, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine) reports “...[Professor of pediatrics Nader Shaikh] is launching a six-year study that will enroll 1,100 children with ear infections and 1,100 children with sinus infections. Children will be treated with either amoxicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanate or a placebo. The placebo ensures that parents and doctors don’t know which treatment the child is receiving. ‘Using a placebo is safe in this study because children who don’t recover quickly are promptly given antibiotics—just as they are in everyday clinical care,’ Shaikh said. ‘Those who improve stay on their initial treatment, whether it’s placebo or one of the antibiotics. This mirrors real-world practice, where doctors choose between observation, amoxicillin or amoxicillin-clavulanate based on how the child is doing.’” Full

CMS Publishes Negotiated Prices for Fifteen Major Drugs in the Second Round of Inflation Reduction Act Negotiations

(11/26, Joanne Walker, The Evidence Base) reports “...Given the extensive evidence requirements embedded in the IRA, including clinical data, economic information, and real-world evidence, some analysts have asked whether the program is beginning to take on characteristics of a de facto health technology assessment (HTA) framework, even if it does not formally adopt HTA principles. Several commentators have even suggested that an explicit HTA framework could strengthen future negotiation cycles by bringing greater structure and transparency to the process.” Full

Mark your Calendar! PCORI to Announce New Funding Opportunities for PCORnet® Studies

(11/26, PCORnet Blog) comments “On December 2, PCORI will release the Broad Pragmatic Studies (BPS) PCORI Funding Announcement (PFA) to support high-quality patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research...PCORI has identified three specific areas of emphasis for this PFA: addressing obesity, treatments and strategies to address menopausal symptoms, and improving care delivery for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).” Full

HERON-UK: Inside the Development of a National Real-World Evidence Network – An Interview with Alex Knight, HDR UK

(11/26, The Evidence Base) reports “The HEalth data Research UK OMOP Network (HERON-UK) is a UK-wide pilot initiative led by HDR UK and the University of Oxford to demonstrate how a federated real-world evidence (RWE) network can operate at scale. Using the OMOP Common Data Model, HERON-UK brings together seven diverse NHS and research data partners to enable secure, standardized, multi-site studies. In this interview, we speak with Alex Knight from HDR UK to explore HERON-UK’s aims, early achievements, and its potential to transform UK health data research.” Full