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This programme studies the implementation and outcomes of pharmaceutical interventions in the heterogeneity of daily practice, thus contributing to personalized medicine. The researchers develop, validate, and apply innovative data methodologies and approaches for population- and individual-based research.

In our ageing population, personalized pharmaceutical treatment is becoming increasingly important. This research programme develops and tests innovative methods and real-world assessments to optimize pharmaceutical treatment. The main research fields are pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacogenetics, pharmacotherapy and precision drug therapy, quality of drug use, pharmacovigilance, and pharmacoeconomics.

The research team maintains large databases and combines these with data obtained from smaller population- or practice-based cohorts and intervention studies:

  • To optimize the efficiency and quality of pharmaceutical interventions;
  • To develop, validate, and apply advanced methodologies to generate scientific knowledge of determinants and effects of interventions in routine medical practice, as well as to support policymaking.
Relevance

Making pharmaceutical healthcare more efficient and sustainable

The programme focuses on the prevention and treatment of disease with medicines, including drugs and vaccines, the effects on quality of life and costs, and the clinical management of drug therapy and drug safety, which all play an important role in healthy ageing.

 

This research provides more insight into the use and effects of drugs and vaccines, particularly in vulnerable populations, and into how to improve quality of life and promote healthy ageing. The research findings support pharmaceutical decision-making regarding regulatory approval, reimbursement, and optimal medication use in daily practice.

To increase our knowledge and effectively disseminate it, the research team collaborates with local and international networks (e.g. the EU COST Action, MAECON, the H2020 STARS project) and with practice- and policy-oriented organizations (e.g. KNMP, CBG-MEB, LAREB). This strategy has contributed to:

  • Drug regulatory decision-making regarding, for instance, the use of real-world data and patient involvement;
  • Improvement and implementation of new methods in pharmacovigilance, including use of patient-reported outcomes;
  • National practice guidelines, e.g. recommendations for implementing medication deprescribing in elderly patients.

  • The research team maintains and utilizes prescription and healthcare databases containing detailed information on medication prescriptions and dispensing obtained from large cohorts, such as the IADB.nl and GIANTT databases. IADB.nl comprises outpatient population data of approximately 700,000 people, with data going back to 1994. In 2017, the research team started the PharmLines initiative, linking the IADB.nl prescription data to data from the LifeLines Cohort study. The GIANTT database comprises routinely-recorded primary care data of a cumulative cohort of 60,000 people with type 2 diabetes in the Groningen region.

    This programme is aimed at facilitating research on medication use and outcomes. 
    See also: GIANTT

     

     

Contact

University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG)
Institute GUIDE
PEGET
P.O. Box 196
9700 AD Groningen
The Netherlands