As 2024 comes to a close and 2025 gets going, major changes in healthcare and drug development loom. Emerging infectious diseases, developments in GLP-1 drugs, and the role of AI in healthcare and drug development are some of the pressing topics shaping the future of public health.
Below, we discuss some of what’s on the horizon for 2025.
Lessons from COVID-19 and Public Trust
With lockdowns and mask mandates from the COVID-19 pandemic in the rearview mirror, some major public health lessons can be learned. In the US, politicization of the health measures taken early in the spread of SARS-CoV-2 damaged public trust in government health agencies.
In an interview with STAT, former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb commented, “…There is now a large portion of the population that has lost confidence in public health decision-making in the setting of a crisis – that has lost confidence in the guidance that was issued, that felt that the recommendations were arbitrary, that they were inconsistent, that they weren’t articulated in a way that people could find practical value from the issues of should I wear a mask? Shouldn’t I wear a mask? When should I wear a mask? What kind of mask should I wear?”
To avoid this, there’s a need for clearer guidance on implementing and removing public health measures to avoid confusion and backlash, which could reduce the effectiveness of responses to future public health threats.
New Emerging Health Issues
Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, new viral pathogens, Mpox and H1N1, have emerged. Recently, a new Mpox strain in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has raised alarm bells. Limited testing has made it hard to estimate or control the spread. As a result, public health officials may be underestimating the spread of this new variant.
Another virus, H5N1 bird flu, has spread unrestricted amongst dairy cows, leading to transmission to poultry and people. Limited testing and resistance to agricultural monitoring have complicated efforts to control the spread, increasing the potential for human transmission. Public health officials are closely monitoring these developments to prevent future outbreaks.
GLP-1 Drugs and Their Growing Impact
GLP-1 inhibitors, initially developed for diabetes, are gaining significant attention for their weight loss effects in non-diabetic individuals.
Researchers are exploring whether these drugs provide additional health benefits beyond weight loss, similar to the early claims about statins. Recently, semaglutide reduced the absolute risk of a major adverse cardiovascular event by 1.5%. It is unclear if these types of effects are the result of weight loss or other metabolic effects.
Randomized outcome studies and RWE will be key in validating these potential benefits and shaping insurance coverage decisions.
AI in Drug Development and Healthcare
AI continues to make inroads into drug development and healthcare, from clinical decision support to potential direct patient care applications.
However, regulatory bodies face many challenges in assessing AI models trained on open data sources, like large language models (LLMs). These models differ greatly from other regulated AI technologies due to their scale, complexity, applicability, privacy and security concerns, and impact. These open up many hurdles concerning patient data privacy, bias, interpretability, transparency, and more.
High-quality, curated real-world data sets will be essential for ensuring the reliability of AI tools, driving their integration into healthcare, and guiding regulatory frameworks.
What’s in Store for RWE in 2025?
As 2025 approaches, the path forward will require innovation, transparency, and collaboration to build a more resilient and responsive healthcare system. RWE will play a key role in advancing AI, addressing past and emerging public health concerns, and unlocking the full potential of approved drugs.
To see how Aetion’s software platform can help you leverage RWE in 2025, contact us today.