More notes that companies can attain both cost savings and operational efficiencies through enterprise pricing. In fact, Quest’s internal cost calculations show that companies could save up to 40% on their yearly data costs.
A look at Quest’s TA datasets
The TA datasets offer curated, indication-specific sets of clinical and genetic data for more than 50 diseases. All data goes through a tokenization process, so it never shows who the individual patients are.
The data is drawn from Quest’s large and growing database, which includes results from more than 378 million unique patients and from 3,500+ tests. It can also be overlapped with data from other sources, including claims, electronic health records, and prescription data, which enables a more robust patient profile.
“The richer the data pharma companies can access, the more useful it can be,” More says. “Researchers and marketers alike benefit when datasets include clinical biomarkers, genetic biomarkers, and diagnostic codes; a combination of these can help paint a more accurate picture.”
In the oncology space alone, TA datasets cover more than three dozen diseases, including breast cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, and more. Other disease states include Alzheimer’s disease, asthma, ulcerative colitis, and more.
Prostate cancer is a good example of what the TA datasets contain. Most people are familiar with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, which is used both to screen men for prostate cancer and to monitor disease progression. But the PSA test is just 1
of more than 40 tests Quest Diagnostics administers that can give insights into prostate cancer, a disease that affects 1 in 8 men during their lifetime. For example, elevated levels of alkaline phosphate (ALP) in the blood have been associated with an increased risk of mortality in patients with hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.
“These tests are included in our prostate cancer TA dataset, as are 15+ genetic markers and 2 diagnostic and ICD-10 codes,” More says. “That gives pharma companies a far more robust picture of this common disease than PSA results alone.”
Quest transforms complex genetic information into simplified categorical values. This discretization makes analysis easier.
Use cases for lab data
TA datasets can support a wide range of clinical and commercial use cases. Here are a few ways pharma companies can use the data under enterprise licensing:
- Clinical trial feasibility and recruitment
- Patient journey studies
- Identification of potential prescribing physicians
- Tailoring product launch strategies
- Health economics and outcomes research
Companies that license TA datasets can access 2 distinct cohorts, depending on their needs:
- Test-Based Cohort: Focuses on indication-specific diagnostic tests over the last 5 years, plus 1-year prospective; this dataset is ideal for researchers seeking to study critical biomarkers and treatment responses linked to specific tests.
- Patient-Centric Cohort: Includes all lab encounters for patients who meet the criteria for specific therapeutic areas, offering
a complete longitudinal record over the last 5 years, plus a 1-year prospective. This deidentified dataset allows for a comprehensive analysis of patient journeys, outcomes, and the identification of comorbidities.
“We’re excited to offer these curated datasets to pharma companies,” More says. “We’re confident that they can help those companies drive efficiency and maximize their data usage.”
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