Imtiaz Samjoo
Senior Director, Value & Evidence
Expertise:
As Senior Director of the Value & Evidence team at EVERSANA, Imtiaz leads evidence synthesis projects that support global HEOR initiatives involving systematic literature reviews, indirect treatment comparisons, and health economic modeling, to support reimbursement and market
access for pharmaceuticals.
Imtiaz Samjoo is the Senior Director of Evidence Synthesis at EVERSANA. Imtiaz has more than 10 years of academic research and scientific writing experience, with expertise in molecular and clinical research and a specialty in anatomy, biochemistry, metabolism, and physiology. He has authored over 20 peer-reviewed scientific publications. His academic training includes an Honours BSc (Biology) from McMaster/Leeds University, an MSc in Physiology and Pharmacology (McMaster University) and a Ph.D. in Cell Biology and Metabolism (McMaster University).
At EVERSANA, Imtiaz specializes in the conduct and critical appraisal of evidence synthesis activities including traditional and network meta-analysis, advanced ITCs such as MAICs and STCs, ITC feasibility assessments, systematic and targeted literature reviews, developing objection handlers, gap and landscape assessments, product value communication tools, peer-reviewed manuscripts, value messages, slide decks, and conference abstracts and posters. Additionally, Imtiaz is involved in the development and implementation of tools that demonstrate the health economic value of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. These include cost-effectiveness, cost-consequence, and budget impact analysis models and sales force tools. He has worked in several therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, gastroenterology, mental illness, neurology, and oncology.
Articles by Imtiaz Samjoo
The Importance of Quality-of-Life Metrics in mCRPC
Prostate cancer is one of the most diagnosed malignancies in the world, with many patients progressing to an advanced stage of the disease called metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Due to the poor prognosis and incurable nature of mCRPC, maintaining or improving quality of life (QoL) has become an important goal of therapy for patients, caregivers and physicians QoL metrics are also essential in the approval and reimbursement of cancer therapies. Quality of life can be measured using utility values, such as the EQ-5D family of instruments. The EQ-5D scales measure QoL through five dimensions of health – mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain and discomfort, and anxiety and depression – […]
A Review of Indirect Treatment Comparisons (ITCs) in Regulatory Approval, Reimbursement and Pricing Recommendations for Oncology Drugs
The use of indirect treatment comparisons (ITCs) has increased significantly in recent years, particularly in the assessment of oncology and rare diseases where direct head-to-head trials may be impractical or unavailable, with numerous oncology and orphan drug submissions incorporating ITCs to support regulatory decisions and health technology assessment (HTA) recommendations. The Value & Evidence team at EVERSANA (Krista Tantakoun, Christopher Olsen, Fatemeh Mirzayeh Fashami, Imtiaz Samjoo and Chris Cameron), in collaboration with Dr. Brian Hutton, professors at Kyoto University and Yokohama City University School of Medicine in Japan, and colleagues at Janssen Pharmaceutical, critically reviewed and synthesized assessment documents for oncology drug submissions that included ITCs from various regulatory bodies […]
Comparing First-Line Treatments for mCRPC: Insights From a Comprehensive NMA
Several first-line (1L) pharmacological treatments are available for the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), an incurable condition with poor prognosis and quality of life. Benefits to patient survival in clinical trials have been demonstrated for many 1L mCRPC treatments, including novel agents such as talazoparib plus enzalutamide. However, due to the lack of direct comparisons, it is unclear how new treatments compare to many of those already used in clinical practice, creating challenges when choosing which therapeutic option to recommend to patients. To help bridge this gap, Elena Castro, MD; the team at Pfizer Inc. (Alexander Niyazov and Jonathan Nazari); and the Value & Evidence team […]
Enhancing Quality of Life in Advanced Breast Cancer: The Role of Palbociclib
Advanced breast cancer often comes with significant physical symptoms, such as pain and fatigue, as well as side effects from treatments. The diagnosis and treatment of advanced breast cancer can lead to anxiety, depression and stress. Improving a patient’s quality of life can help manage these symptoms more effectively, making daily life more bearable. Focusing on quality of life in the face of a challenging diagnosis has become a primary goal of breast cancer therapy, particularly in the advanced setting, where outcomes are often poor. Palbociclib, a first-in-class cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) inhibitor, received approval from the United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration in 2015 for the treatment of […]
Filling in the Gaps: Predicting Treatment Effects From Surrogate Endpoints
Over the past 15 years, the treatment landscape for first-line metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) has undergone significant changes, marked by the approval and investigation of several new therapies. With multiple pharmacological treatments available for first-line mCRPC, network meta-analyses (NMAs) can serve as a valuable resource for evaluating clinical effectiveness that reflects current and local clinical practice. Recent clinical guidelines emphasize the importance of standardized reporting and evaluation of clinical trial outcomes in response to the rapidly evolving treatment landscape. However, older trials evaluating relevant treatments may lack certain outcome data, posing challenges when comparing them with recent trials designed to meet current guidelines through NMAs. Advanced statistical methods are […]
A Review of Worldwide Indirect Treatment Comparison (ITC) Guidelines and Best Practices
Considering the challenges of conducting head-to-head clinical trials, indirect treatment comparisons (ITCs) offer valuable insights into clinical effectiveness that reflect current and local practices. These insights can help regulators and reimbursement agencies make better-informed decisions, thereby facilitating patient access to novel treatments. Recent methodological advancements in ITCs have led to the release of regional, national and global guidelines outlining jurisdiction-specific methodology and reporting recommendations and/or best practices. The Value & Evidence team at EVERSANA (Krista Tantakoun, Christopher Olsen, Fatemeh Mirzayeh Fashami, Imtiaz Samjoo and Chris Cameron), in collaboration with Dr. Brian Hutton, professors at Kyoto University and Yokohama City University School of Medicine in Japan, and colleagues at Janssen Pharmaceutical, […]
Real-World Effectiveness of Treatments Post-CDK4/6i in Treating HR+/HER2- Locally Advanced or Metastatic Breast Cancer
Since the FDA’s approval of palbociclib plus letrozole in 2015, cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors (CDK4/6i), in combination with endocrine therapy (ET), have become the standard of care for treating hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative, locally advanced/metastatic breast cancer (HR+/HER2- LABC/mBC) in the first-line (1L) treatment setting. However, there is no clear standard of care for patients after 1L CDK4/6i treatment. Understanding the real-world effectiveness of subsequent therapies may help to identify an unmet need in this patient population. The Value & Evidence team at EVERSANA (Sarah Kane, Belal Howidi, Ngoc Nguyen, Joanna Bielecki and Imtiaz A. Samjoo) synthesized the effectiveness of treatments received in the real-world setting […]
Real-World Insights: Effectiveness and Safety of Crizotinib in ROS1-Rearranged NSCLC
Lung cancer is one of the most incident malignancies and the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 85% of lung cancer cases and, with the emergence of genomic techniques, tumor genotyping has led to the identification of actionable driver alterations in NSCLC. The ROS1 gene encodes a tyrosine kinase receptor that plays an important role in the activation of several signaling pathways associated with cellular differentiation, proliferation, growth and survival. ROS1 gene rearrangement is rare and is detected as an oncogenic driver in 0.9% to 2.6% of NSCLC cases. Crizotinib was first approved for ROS1 advanced NSCLC (aNSCLC) in the United States in […]
Transforming Systematic Literature Reviews: Leveraging AI for Efficiency and Rigor
Systematic literature reviews (SLRs) are instrumental in supporting healthcare decision-making and market access. Traditionally, literature reviews require a resource-intensive process, thus highlighting the need for more efficient methodologies without compromising rigor or integrity. Over the past few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a powerful tool that can significantly enhance efficiency in conducting reviews. AI, particularly machine learning and large language models (LLMs), has appeared as a promising tool to improve the conduct of reviews. At EVERSANA, we have been strategizing on the use of AI at the various stages of the systematic review process: Search strategies: LLMs can be used to design search strategies but can pose challenges […]
Uncovering Health Disparities: Exploring Social Determinants of Metastatic Prostate Cancer Survival
Author(s): Imtiaz A. Samjoo, MSc, PhD; Emily Rosta, MSc; Austin Lansing, MSc; Alexandra Hall, MPH Despite recent advancements in metastatic prostate cancer (mPC) treatment, prevention and care, progress has not equally manifested in all population groups. Though some recent reports suggest similar outcomes across races, there continue to be reports of racial disparity in disease incidence and access to care. In a pair of interconnected articles, Stephen J. Freedland, MD, the team at Pfizer Inc. (Alexander Niyazov, Jonathan L. Nazari, and Bhakti Arondekar), and the Value & Evidence team at EVERSANA (Imtiaz A. Samjoo, Emily Rosta, Austin Lansing, Alexandra Hall, Manvir Rai, Kerise Clarke, Amrita Debnath, Evelyn Worthington, and Joanna Bielecki) […]
Eight Key Strategic Considerations When Launching a Global Indirect Treatment Comparison Program for New Products
Indirect treatment comparisons (ITCs) refer to a comparison of different healthcare interventions using data from separate studies, in contrast to a direct comparison within randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Indirect treatment comparisons are often used because of a lack of, or insufficient, evidence from head-to-head comparative trials. Indirect treatment comparisons have become valuable in evidence-based healthcare decision-making in disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment, and in other aspects of health. For example, clinicians, policymakers, and healthcare technology assessment (HTA) agencies worldwide often make decisions related to treatment in a given therapeutic area – they need to evaluate how a product’s clinical effects compare with already available treatment options for the indication in […]