About
What is Real World
Evidence?
For decades, regulatory agencies in Canada and countries around the world have approved medications based on testing in clinical trials to determine drug efficacy and safety. However, these randomized controlled trials (RCTs), as they are known, don’t typically include the full range of patients, such as older adults, people with immune system concerns, people from diverse backgrounds and children. This issue, among others, leads to less-than-perfect test results.
Real-world evidence (RWE) holds promise in addressing concerns with these trials. RWE can help determine how well medications work and the potential harms they can cause through trials conducted on a large and diverse range of people. RWE applies traditional data science and exciting new AI and machine learning methods to rich, “real-world” patient health datasets to help better assess drug safety and effectiveness.
Our Mission
We focus on strengthening the science and capacity that informs policy, ensuring decisions are enabled by robust evidence. We advance cutting-edge methods, foster open and responsible data use, and train the next generation of researchers and policy partners.
Our Vision
Establish Ontario as a world leader in developing and leveraging RWE.
Become a member
Join our collaborative network of leaders across academia, industry, government, and healthcare to advance cutting-edge RWE research that improves health outcomes and shapes smarter health policy.