The fifth Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi) Asia Policy Forum (APF) was held in Beijing, November 2017. The topic of the meeting was ‘Universal Health Care in the Asia Region: Overcoming the Barriers using HTA and Real World Data’. This presentation will focus on the use of real world data (RWD) as a mechanism of informing HTA in the Asia region – from the perspective of industry that were represented at the APF.

The 2017 HTAi APF had senior representatives from 11 pharmaceutical and medical device companies active in the region. A keynote presentation was delivered that explored the findings of the background paper and survey, and there were guided breakout group discussions.

RWD is needed in all stages of the life cycle of a product; however, of greatest importance to industry is RWD to develop value propositions, inform HTA assessments, gauge market need and demonstrate where a new technology sits within an established clinical pathway. Although the HTA agencies present at the APF stated that RWD is available in the Asia region, this was not reflected by industry members who had limited awareness and access. Key concerns raised included whether this RWD is available for public use (and what caveats will be placed around its release), the quality of the data, whether it is longitudinal, and if it includes costs.

There is a clear difference in the perspective of RWD between industry and HTA agencies in the Asia region. It is possible that this difference is driven by the apparent lack of publicly available data in the region and industry members comparing the use of RWD in Asia with the use in higher-income countries. This can be improved with clearer definitions, increased dialogue and multi-stakeholder collaboration in the region.