CaPPE - Cancer Pharmacoepidemiology & Pharmacoeconomics

CaPPE is a collaboration between the National Cancer Registry, the Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Trinity College Dublin and the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics. The focus of the collaboration is research in the areas of cancer pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacoeconomics. Pharmacoepidemiology research involves the investigation – at the population-level – of the effects of medications on cancer. Pharmacoeconomics assesses the economic impact of medications and drugs in cancer.

Cancer pharmacoepidemiology research in Ireland is made possible by the bringing together - by the National Cancer Registry - of individual records for cancer and prescribed medications, held by the Primary Care Reimbursement Service. The collaboration has been funded by several project and programme grants from the Health Research Board and PhD studentships from the Irish Cancer Society.  Current projects include:

• Adherence to aromatase inhibitors (hormonal therapy) in women with breast cancer, and how this affects outcome;
• Development of a theory-based intervention to enhance adherence to hormonal therapy in women with early-stage breast cancer;
• Associations between beta-blockers and outcomes in breast and other cancers;
• Impact of metformin and other anti-diabetic drugs in colorectal cancer;
• Associations between digoxin and prostate cancer outcomes;
• Associations between non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and breast, prostate, and ovarian cancers