BOWIE, MD – MedAssurant, Inc. has entered into a joint study with the University of North Carolina, in which it will put its datasets to work assessing the relationship between the use of long-acting insulin to treat diabetes and the development of cancer.
Following a protocol to be developed by UNC, MedAssurant has been engaged to analyze data from its MORE2 Registry comparing cancer prevalence and outcomes in patients treated with two different types of prescription insulin.
[See also: UNC Health Care, IBM partnership to aid discovery of disease treatments.]
As one of the most significant healthcare datasets available, the MORE2 Registry contains more than 3.9 billion medical events from more than 76 million patients, 295,000 physicians, and 185,000 clinical facilities – enabling significant power and insight into the investigation of advancements in healthcare.
Recent publications have suggested a relationship may exist between a specific type of prescription long-acting insulin and increased rates of cancer development. Due to the inconsistent findings within these previous publications, this study is designed to further clarify the possible correlation using several very large and statistically powerful clinical and administrative healthcare databases, including the MORE2 Registry.
MedAssurant will be responsible for coordinating the identification of specific cohorts within the MORE2 Registry, the evaluation of clinical covariates that may affect incidences of cancer, and the application of advanced clinical analytics to assess the relationship between prescription insulin and cancer development.
"Depth of data is critical to this study and is believed to have been a significant limitation in past studies," stated John Buse, MD, chief of endocrinology and professor of medicine, UNC. "We are delighted to have access to the analytical capabilities and data insight able to be brought to bear by MedAssurant and look forward to the additional power that this will bring to our research on the topic."
[See also: MedAssurant unveils data analytics 'breakthrough'.]
"Postmarketing surveillance is an important tool in determining the long-term safety of approved drugs," says Stephen DeCherney, MD, a senior vice president of pharmaceuticals and life sciences at MedAssurant. "In this case, the growing number of people suffering from diabetes makes a meaningful evaluation of various long-acting prescription insulin medications an important undertaking."
Unfortunately, he added, "previous studies have been challenged by smaller sample sizes, limited patient information, and short observation periods. In our work with UNC, we have the benefit of the MORE2 Registry, a rich database both in volume and in duration of information that will allow us to understand more deeply the long-term safety risks associated with long-acting prescription insulin."
