Established in 2008, the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network (ODPRN) comprises a multidisciplinary team of epidemiologists, biostatisticians, analysts, and clinicians from across Ontario who leverage provincial and national health administrative data and national collaborations to conduct rigorous analyses to generate evidence-based insights that inform health policy, evaluate health care services, and support decision-making. We have the capacity to rapidly generate high-quality scientific evidence related to real-world drug utilization, safety, effectiveness, and medication costs in Ontario and across the country through our established partnerships.

The ODPRN also houses the Ontario Opioid Drug Observatory, which brings together knowledge users, researchers, community organizations, and people with lived and living experience to generate research that informs and evaluates responses to the drug toxicity crisis. The Ontario Opioid Drug Observatory facilitates data linkages between substance-related prescriptions, deaths, and harm reduction with other health administrative databases in Ontario, resulting in the creation of the largest and most comprehensive linked repository of data on substance use and related harms in Canada.

Over the past 10 years, the Canadian Network for Observational Drug Effect Studies (CNODES) has built a network of more than 100 scientists to study the real-world use, safety, and effectiveness of drugs used by people in Canada. CNODES has access to administrative health care data on millions of medication users across Canada and internationally. CNODES uses state-of-the-art observational research methods and rapid response studies plus semi-automated tools and a common data model for standardized analyses.

The POst-Market Drug Evaluation Team (PODET) comprises a diverse team of investigators with established expertise in systematic reviews, rapid reviews, living systematic reviews, scoping reviews, meta-analyses, network-meta-analyses, health technology assessments, health system and clinical practice guidance, health economics, pharmacovigilance, post-market drug evaluation, and evidence application and evaluation.

This team has a history of sustained successful collaborations with different partners, including WHO, PHAC, Health Canada, Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, Cancer Care Ontario, and the CADTH pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review.

The Alberta Drug and Technology Evaluation Consortium (ADTEC) comprises research leaders from the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, and the Institute of Health Economics who have demonstrated experience and expertise in the execution of decision-grade research.

ADTEC leverages access to high-quality population-based administrative data in Alberta and expertise in epidemiological methods, policy evaluation, and health care costing and economics.

The Canadian Cancer Real-World Evaluation (CCRE) Platform comprises Canada's leading researchers in real-world evidence in cancer who are uniquely embedded within cancer agencies in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia.

This team has extensive experience answering decision-maker questions.

CCRE can leverage its role as a data owner and custodian to respond rapidly to decision-maker questions by directly accessing and linking oncology-related health administrative databases.

This team is built on well-established collaborations with organizations such as Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario), Alberta Health Services, BC Cancer Agency, the Canadian Association of Provincial Cancer Agencies, Canadian Centre for Applied Research in Cancer Control, Health Data Research Network Canada, and the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

The Canadian Network for Advanced Interdisciplinary Methods (CAN-AIM) enhances the validity and accuracy of Canadian research on the real-life comparative effectiveness and safety of drugs by producing efficient, relevant, and client-focused results.

This team’s innovative methodologies use complex longitudinal data on exposures, covariates, and outcomes, which enables them to explore and understand the associations and risks in robust ways that can be communicated clearly to decision-makers.

Exactis Innovation (Exactis) is a not-for-profit organization whose main initiative is the pan-Canadian Personalize My Treatment (PMT) Network.

It includes 16 hospitals across 5 provinces, dedicated onsite study coordinators, and a patient registry with more than 7,000 cancer patients from which clinical, molecular, and survival data are collected.

The Exactis-PMT Network team is experienced in generating evidence to support reimbursement decisions and brings fast access to real-world data through its registry and chart review across its sites.

Dr. Michael Law holds the Canada Research Chair in Access to Medicines and is a professor in the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, School of Population and Public Health, at the University of British Columbia.

Dr. Law’s research program focuses on pharmaceutical policy, with a focus on access to and the use of prescription drugs, including the affordability of prescription drugs, private drug insurance, generic drug pricing, and the impact of pharmacist prescribing.

The Knowledge Translation Program (KTP), part of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, works with decision-making organizations, researchers, patient partners, and other knowledge users to mobilize knowledge at the clinical, community, and policy levels.

The Knowledge Synthesis (KS) team, part of KTP, consists of more than 25 staff members, including research coordinators, program managers, biostatisticians, information specialists, and library technicians, who are at the forefront of advancing KS methods. We use a range of evidence synthesis approaches for rapid response and our team’s expertise includes epidemiology, statistics, qualitative research, economic analysis, and knowledge translation.

We frequently collaborate with our pan-Canadian network of researchers, clinical teams, and patient partners to support decision-makers such as the WHO, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and Health Canada. KTP has a 15-year history of collaborating with Canada’s Drug Agency, including on Post-Marketing Drug Evaluation rapid response projects and KS capacity building.

Established in 2008, the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network (ODPRN) comprises a multidisciplinary team of epidemiologists, biostatisticians, analysts, and clinicians from across Ontario who leverage provincial and national health administrative data and national collaborations to conduct rigorous analyses to generate evidence-based insights that inform health policy, evaluate health care services, and support decision-making. We have the capacity to rapidly generate high-quality scientific evidence related to real-world drug utilization, safety, effectiveness, and medication costs in Ontario and across the country through our established partnerships.

The ODPRN also houses the Ontario Opioid Drug Observatory, which brings together knowledge users, researchers, community organizations, and people with lived and living experience to generate research that informs and evaluates responses to the drug toxicity crisis. The Ontario Opioid Drug Observatory facilitates data linkages between substance-related prescriptions, deaths, and harm reduction with other health administrative databases in Ontario, resulting in the creation of the largest and most comprehensive linked repository of data on substance use and related harms in Canada.