Real-World Medicine:
Diseases and Drugs

The Clinical Reference Every RWE Professional Needs

Real-World Medicine: Diseases and Drugs fills a gap that has existed in the RWE literature for years. The vast majority of professionals working in real-world evidence — pharmacoepidemiologists, health economists, data scientists, regulatory writers, HEOR analysts, and market access specialists — are not trained physicians. Yet their work requires a working understanding of disease mechanisms, clinical presentations, treatment pathways, and therapeutic classes.

This book provides exactly that — a structured, accessible, and authoritative guide to the major disease areas and therapeutic landscapes that RWE professionals encounter most frequently. Written by Dr Massoud Toussi, MD, PhD, MBA — a physician who has spent 20+ years working in the non-interventional evidence space — it translates clinical complexity into the language and context that RWE practitioners need to design better studies, interpret findings more accurately, and communicate more effectively with clinical teams and investigators.

Each disease chapter covers: epidemiology and burden, pathophysiology (accessible, non-technical), the diagnostic landscape, current treatment guidelines, key drug classes and their mechanisms, RWE study design considerations specific to the disease area, and the most commonly used clinical endpoints and outcome measures.