Real-world evidence represents critical evidence to support post-marketing drug monitoring, assessment and policy decisions, and has received extensive attentions. However, an explicit over-arching design and conceptual framework for this specific area is lacking. Divergent opinions on the production of real world evidence are often present among researchers; and understanding about their implications also differ among policy makers and evidence users. In this article, we have proposed, from the regulatory and clinical perspectives, a conceptual framework on the use of real world data for post-marketing drug studies, assessment and policy decisions.
