Flatiron Health brings Scottish oncology data into global real-world evidence network

Flatiron Health has announced its first partnership in Scotland, bringing oncology data from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde into its international real-world data network. The collaboration aims to strengthen multinational evidence generation by expanding the geographic representation of research-ready oncology datasets used across drug development, regulatory decision-making, and health technology assessment.

The Baseline

• Flatiron Health is expanding its international oncology real-world data network through its first partnership in Scotland with the country’s largest health board, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
• The collaboration will transform routinely collected cancer care information into research-ready datasets intended to support evidence generation across clinical development, regulatory strategy, health technology assessment, and market access.
• The collaboration aims to broaden the geographic and clinical representation of its multinational oncology evidence base, supporting research across different patient populations and healthcare systems.

The collaboration brings oncology data from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) into Flatiron's international real-world data (RWD) network. According to Flatiron, adding data from Scotland's distinct healthcare system, which provides health services from around 1.2 million people, will broaden the geographic and clinical representation of its multinational oncology evidence base. By incorporating information generated through routine cancer care, the company said the collaboration will help researchers better understand how cancer presents, how care is delivered, and how patients respond to treatment across different populations and healthcare settings.

The Scotland partnership forms part of Flatiron's continued expansion outside the US. The company said it established its international network to provide access to oncology RWD reflecting local patient populations, treatment practices, and care settings. According to Flatiron, the network has grown by nearly 70% over the past year and now includes more than 50 academic medical centers, hospitals, and community sites across the UK, Germany, and Japan. Together with its US network, Flatiron's global oncology data network draws on data from >6 million patient records, with the company aiming to expand this coverage to 10 million patients worldwide.

Under the agreement, Flatiron Health UK's multidisciplinary team of clinicians, epidemiologists, software engineers, and data scientists will work with NHSGGC to transform structured and unstructured information generated through routine cancer care into research-ready datasets. The collaboration will combine AI-supported technology with clinical and scientific expertise to curate research-ready datasets while meeting country-specific legal, regulatory, and governance requirements.. According to Flatiron, the resulting datasets can support evidence generation across the oncology development lifecycle, including clinical development, regulatory strategy, health technology assessment (HTA), market access, and commercialization. The company added that its global evidence solutions enable analyses across countries while maintaining local data control and compliance.

Commenting on the announcement, Michael Bierl, Chief Business Officer at Flatiron Health, said:

"Oncology’s most consequential questions require data with the clinical depth, quality, and geographic representation to reflect how cancer care is actually delivered.”

He added that expanding the network's geographic reach and patient diversity would provide researchers and biopharma partners with a broader understanding of how cancer presents and is treated across different populations and healthcare systems.

Kate Estep, Chief Product Officer at Flatiron Health, continued, saying:

"Every healthcare system we partner with deepens our collective understanding of how cancer care is delivered and where the gaps in our knowledge lie. Welcoming our first partner in Scotland significantly enhances the representation of diverse populations and unique care settings in our data. This deeper context allows our partners to ask broader, more meaningful questions about how treatments affect people in their daily lives, providing the completeness required to develop new therapies with absolute confidence."