How long does it take to translate research findings into routine healthcare practice?-the case of biological drugs for rheumatoid arthritis in Brazil.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Descriptive retrospective analysis of translation timelines for a small cohort of drugs (by design analogy, not clinical CEBM)
PubMed 35957709 · doi:10.21037/atm-22-397
What was done
Researchers conducted a descriptive retrospective study using secondary public data, literature searches, and reports from Brazil's National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies (Conitec) and health authorities. They measured the time lag between the publication of phase I trial results and routine clinical implementation for biological rheumatoid arthritis drugs incorporated into the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) between 2012 and 2019, breaking the timeline into three translational phases (T1, T2, and T3).
What was found
For the 5 biological agents incorporated between 2012 and 2019, the mean total time lag from clinical development to healthcare use was 11.13 years (range: 8.57 to 12.90 years). Mean durations across specific translational stages were: - T1 (basic research to clinical research): 5.30 years - T2 (clinical research to research synthesis): 5.08 years - T3 (research synthesis to evidence-based practice): 0.75 years
Why it matters
The findings quantify real-world translation timelines for specialized biologics in a middle-income universal health system, showing that regulatory and health technology assessment frameworks can compress the final policy-to-practice stage (T3 to under a year) while clinical research stages continue to drive most delays.
Limits
The study evaluated only 5 biological drugs within a single therapeutic indication (rheumatoid arthritis) and a single national public health system (Brazil's SUS), limiting generalizability to other drug classes, disease areas, or health systems. It relied on secondary public sources and publication dates of phase I trials rather than actual bench discovery dates.
Cited by
- context It often takes up to 30 years for scientific research findings to be translated into clinical medical practice.