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The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has updated its methods paper to Version 7.0, which is now available in English. The General Methods provide criteria for assessing the benefits and harms of medical interventions. The update includes a revision of the chapter on health economic evaluation, making the evaluation process less complex. Additionally, IQWiG has included a new section on routine practice data collection, which involves developing a concept for data collection and searching for suitable disease registries. The methods paper was revised based on feedback received during the commenting procedure. [Extracted from the article]

A recent study conducted at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida evaluated the reporting methods of patient-reported outcomes (PRO) data in FDA-approved drugs for genitourinary (GU) malignancies. The study found that while PRO data was published for 27 trials, only 85% of these publications focused solely on PRO data. The study also highlighted the need for improvement in the quality of design and conduct of PRO endpoints in future trials, as well as the accelerated publication of PRO endpoints. The researchers concluded that these improvements are essential for facilitating the interpretation and application of PRO study findings in patient care. [Extracted from the article]

A study conducted at Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic, has investigated the impact of significant carotid stenosis on retinal perfusion. The study aims to determine whether retinal perfusion is affected by carotid stenosis and if this can broaden the indication spectrum for revascularization. The researchers plan to enroll 50 patients with carotid stenosis and compare their retinal oximetry parameters with a control group. The findings suggest that retinal oximetry has the potential to be used for noninvasive real-time measurements of oxyhemoglobin saturation in central nervous system vessels. [Extracted from the article]

The article examines the landscape of repurposed medicines evaluated by non-commercial entities, focusing on identifying new uses for existing drugs to address unmet medical needs. Topics include the role of the NIHR Innovation Observatory in scanning clinical trial registries, the classification of 528 technologies for new indications, and the support for the NHS England Medicines Repurposing Programme.

A recent study conducted by researchers at Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China aimed to determine the most effective acupuncture methods for treating lower limb motor dysfunction after a stroke. The study utilized network meta-analysis to evaluate various acupuncture interventions and their efficacy and safety. The results showed that body acupuncture combined with rehabilitation treatment was the most widely used and effective intervention method for this condition. However, the researchers noted that further large-scale and high-quality clinical trials are needed to fully verify the efficacy of other acupuncture methods. [Extracted from the article]

A report from Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands discusses the development and performance of the c4c national clinical trial networks for optimizing pediatric trial facilitation. The study highlights the high failure rate of industry-driven pediatric clinical trials, which leads to insufficient labeling of drugs for children and a lack of scientific evidence. The c4c network aims to increase the success of trials by facilitating collaboration between sites, investigators, and experts. The study analyzes the performance metrics of the trial feasibility process and shares the learnings and challenges encountered by the Belgian and Dutch networks within the c4c project. The research concludes that the insights gained from these networks can inform the development of clinical research networks. [Extracted from the article]