HealthMeasures in Drug Development

HealthMeasures can be used as primary or secondary endpoints in clinical and observational studies on the effectiveness of treatment.

HealthMeasures in Drug Development

  • HealthMeasures, particularly PROMIS, can measure symptomatic adverse events, physical function, and disease-related symptoms (e.g., dyspnea) as recommended for cancer clinical trials Kluetz et al (2016). Learn more>>
  • Researchers and sponsors should review the evidence to support the context of use.
  • For publications and webinars on assessment of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in children and adolescents, content validity in PRO instruments and good practices for outcomes research visit the website of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR).  Learn more>>

FDA Drug Development Tool Qualification

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognizes the importance of research tools that aid the development and evaluation of medical treatments. These tools include performance measures of function and patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments that may serve as clinical outcome assessments (COAs) in clinical trials. To expedite the use of a specific PRO measure as an outcome in clinical trials, a person or group may submit the PRO for qualification by a center of the FDA, e.g., the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). Qualification is a multi-step process that requires substantial qualitative and quantitative evidence to support the reliability, validity, and interpretability of the PRO for its intended use. Once a PRO has been qualified, FDA reviewers can be confident that it is valid for its specific context of use, e.g., assessing the effect of treatment relative to placebo on fatigue in children with Crohn’s disease aged 8-17 years old. Hence, the PRO may be employed in drug development trials within the context of use without the need for further review of its validity.

 

Qualification Steps

(1) Submission of a Letter of Intent that describes the PRO and preliminary supporting evidence

(2) Submission of a Qualification Plan that provides detailed information about qualitative research conducted with the intended patient population and plans for further research

(3) Submission of a Full Qualification Package with data and results supporting the PRO as well as instructions for administration, scoring, handling missing data, and interpreting scores.

At each stage, FDA reviewers provide feedback and may request revisions and additional information. Learn more>>

Qualification Status of HealthMeasures

Adult Measures

  • PROMIS Physical Function short form in oncology
    • Full Qualification Package in development (DDT COA #000079)
  • PROMIS Physical Function short form in sarcopenia
    • Qualification Plan in development (DDT COA #000085)
  • PROMIS Physical Function short form in multiple sclerosis
    • Qualification Plan in development (DDT COA #000123)
  • PROMIS Fatigue short form in rheumatoid arthritis
    • Full Qualification Package in development (DDT COA #000015)
  • PROMIS Fatigue short form in multiple sclerosis 
    • Qualification Plan in development (DDT COA #000069)
  • PROMIS Fatigue short form in systemic exertion intolerance disease/myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome
    • Qualification Plan in development (DDT COA #000080)

Pediatric Measures

  • PROMIS Pediatric Itch short form in pediatric patients
    • Letter of Intent in review (DDT COA #000116)
  • PROMIS Pediatric Fatigue short form in Crohn’s Disease
    • Qualification Plan in development (DDT COA #000092)
  • PROMIS Pediatric Fatigue short form in chronic kidney disease
    • Qualification Plan in development (DDT COA #000095)
  • PROMIS Pediatric Sleep Disturbance in chronic kidney disease
    • Qualification Plan in development (DDT COA #000119)

For more information, contact us at help@HealthMeasures.net or visit the FDA’s Clinical Outcome Assessment webpage. Learn more>>

 

Updated October 15, 2020