While clinical trials provide valuable data on efficacy and side effects in controlled environments, they often have limitations in participant diversity, sample size, and duration. This can result in gaps in understanding how products perform in real-world settings, where various factors, such as lifestyle, comorbidities, and long-term usage patterns, come into play. By examining data from post-market surveillance, we can uncover insights that clinical trials may miss. What specific issues or trends are often not seen in clinical trials that creates the need for post market research?
While clinical trials provide valuable data, they often miss important issues that only emerge through post-market research. For example, long-term side effects may not become apparent during the relatively short duration of clinical trials. Similarly, rare adverse reactions are often missed because trials involve a limited number of participants, and these reactions only surface when a drug or device is used by a larger, more diverse population. Another key issue is drug interactions—patients in clinical trials are typically not on the wide range of medications that real-world patients might be taking, which means potential interactions between the new treatment and other medications often go unnoticed. Finally, real-world usage patterns, including how well patients adhere to prescribed treatments and the influence of lifestyle factors, are difficult to capture in controlled environments. This makes post-market surveillance critical for understanding how products perform outside the lab and ensuring long-term safety and efficacy.
