How Pharmacoepidemiology Networks Can Manage Distributed Analyses to Improve Replicability and Transparency and Minimize Bias

Several pharmacoepidemiology networks have been developed over the past decade that use a distributed approach, implementing the same analysis at multiple data sites, to preserve privacy and minimize data sharing. Distributed networks are efficient, by interrogating data on very large populations. The structure of these networks can also be leveraged to improve replicability, increase transparency, and reduce bias. The authors describe some features of distributed networks using, as examples, the Canadian Network for Observational Drug Effect Studies, the Sentinel System in the USA, and the European Research Network of Pharmacovigilance and Pharmacoepidemiology.