Welcome to Season 3!
AbbVie’s Christopher Boone Integrates Real-World Data with Precision Medicine for Better Patient Outcomes
01/22/21
In this episode, we met with Christopher Boone, Vice President and Global Head of Health Economics & Outcomes Research at AbbVie, to hear his thoughts on how using data to understand a patient’s real-world environment can expand the practice of Precision Medicine.
Boone began his career long before hospital systems had introduced robust information systems, and he has seen the evolution from rudimentary tools like Microsoft Access to highly sophisticated data collection that enables healthcare teams to the connection between a patient’s environment and healthcare history and how they respond to targeted treatments. He notes that this is especially helpful in a field like oncology in which patients are all very different.
Boone says, “…you start to get into many of the oncological conditions, you recognize quickly that [real-world evidence] RWE can tell you a lot about the patient and the patient experience and how we can adjust the treatment protocols to improve their clinical outcomes.”
He notes that for a long time, clinicians relied on randomized clinical trial evidence to understand the safety and efficacy of a drug or a therapy in a real-world context and not a controlled environment. Today, we have cloud computing, which addresses storage issues, and the exponential growth of computing processing power and analytical capabilities. He believes these advanced analytical capabilities enable the better use of precision medicine.
We asked Boone how AbbVie is currently leveraging RWE to improve patient outcomes or reduce the cost of cancer care. He pointed out that the big question between clinicians and payers has always been, "Is this therapy, is it going to generate better clinical outcomes? Is it cheaper? Is it less intrusive?" RWE enables everyone to participate in a feedback loop that answers these questions by tracking patients, treatments, and successes over time.
During our conversation, Boone touched on a host of other compelling issues, including how to effectively use AI in precision medicine and how automated systems can help increase clinical trial accrual while lowering the cost to acquire a patient into clinical trials.
Listen to the episode in full to hear more of Boones’ insight on the subject as well as his NFL football team top pick!
Download the full transcript of the episode here (pdf).
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About Our Guest
Christopher Boone PhD
Vice President, Global Head of Health Economics and Outcomes Research at Abbvie
Christopher Boone, PhD has a career-long history as a dynamic, innovative thought leader and a public voice on the power of real-world evidence, health informatics, and big data analytics and its ability to radically transform the global health care system into a learning health system.
Chris is VP, Global Head of Health Economics and Outcomes Research at Abbvie. He is also an adjunct assistant professor of health administration at the New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, an active board member of several influential organizations, and a co-founder of a few start-up companies. Most recently, he served as the vice president and head of global medical epidemiology and big data analysis at Pfizer.
Chris has been recognized as a 2019 Top 100 Innovator in Data & Analytics, a 2018 Emerging Pharma Leader by Pharmaceutical Executive, and a 2017 Top 40 Under 40 Leader in Minority Health by the National Minority Quality Forum (NMQF).
Chris earned a BS from the University of Tulsa, a MHA from the University of Texas at Arlington, a PhD from the University of Texas at Dallas, and two executive certificates from the Harvard Kennedy School. He is a Fellow of the American College of Health Executives and a Fellow of the Healthcare Information Management & Systems Society.