INSPIRE: A new opportunity for cancer pharmacoepidemiology research

Until recently, there has been limited overview of the hospital administered cancer medications. The Cancer Registry of Norway has the approval to collect data on medical oncology treatment provided to each patient, but the reporting has so far been manual, time consuming and incomplete. Apart from conducting costly chart reviews, it has not been possible to carry out studies on hospital administered cancer medications. Efforts trying to improve manual reporting have not been sufficient and the most effective way of collecting data on cancer medications is through the hospital systems used for ordering/administering medical oncological treatment. The INSPIRE (INcreaSe PharmaceutIcal REporting) project was initiated to automatically and electronically collect data on cancer medication from the hospitals systems to the Cancer Registry. The project is a unique collaboration between 12 pharmaceutical companies, the Association of Pharmaceutical Companies in Norway, the Norwegian Cancer Society, Inven2, the Cancer Registry of Norway and the four Regional Health Trusts. In this article we describe the INSPIRE project, the data collection, and when and what kind of data that will be available. These new medication data at the Cancer Registry provide new opportunities for cancer pharmacoepidemiology research in Norway.