By Neisha Camacho, Vice President and Managing Director, Consulting Division – Pharmaceutical Practice
HEOR is evolving, and with it, the way organizations think about evidence, data, and the teams required to support it.
Across client conversations, this shift is less about a single function changing and more about how evidence is being approached more broadly across organizations. Teams that were once brought in later in the process are now being pulled into earlier, more strategic discussions.
That shift is showing up in very practical ways.
HEOR and RWE Are Being Brought in Earlier – and More Often
Historically, HEOR was often treated as a later-stage function, most commonly tied to market access, reimbursement, or post-approval evidence. Real-world evidence, in particular, was frequently associated with Phase IV or post-marketing work.
Today, many organizations are rethinking that approach. This shift is also being reinforced by broader industry movement, including evolving regulatory guidance and increased investment in real-world data infrastructure.
According to our clients, there is a noticeable shift toward bringing HEOR and RWE into development earlier, particularly in areas like protocol design, endpoint strategy, and patient population understanding. This is also showing up in more advanced use cases, including external control arms and broader evidence planning. Rather than being layered in after the fact, these perspectives are increasingly part of the upfront conversation.
At the same time, these functions are becoming more integrated with neighboring teams.
HEOR and RWE are now working more closely alongside biometrics, epidemiology, and data science. In some organizations, they sit adjacent to biometrics. In others, they have been brought under broader analytics or quantitative umbrellas altogether.
This reflects a broader move toward more data-driven, cross-functional evidence generation.
The Talent Conversation Is Getting More Complex
As the work evolves, so does the talent conversation.
One of the most consistent themes we are seeing from our ongoing discussions with our clients is that roles are becoming harder to define. The “clean” HEOR profile that may have existed in the past is giving way to more blended expectations. In some cases, clients are effectively looking for more of a ‘full-stack’ evidence profile, combining epidemiology, data science, and biometrics awareness.
Organizations are increasingly looking for professionals who can operate across multiple dimensions, combining technical depth with a broader understanding of evidence strategy and cross-functional impact.
In practice, that creates tension. Roles are not only harder to fill, but they are also often harder to scope. Job descriptions evolve mid-search, expectations shift, and teams are still determining where these roles should sit within the organization.
At the same time, demand is increasing for profiles that blend RWE, epidemiology, and advanced analytics, increasingly including exposure to AI or machine learning in some organizations. That combination remains difficult to find, contributing to longer search cycles and more iterative hiring processes.
What often starts as a hiring conversation quickly turns into something broader.
In many cases, the role isn’t fully defined. Teams are still working through where HEOR and RWE should sit, how responsibilities should be split, and what the profile actually needs to look like. In these situations, the challenge isn’t just execution, it’s alignment. And that’s often where the real work begins.
Companies Are Rethinking How They Build These Teams
As a result, organizations are also rethinking how they approach resourcing. There is no single path forward. Some are focused on building long-term capability through permanent hires, particularly at the leadership level. Others are taking a more flexible approach, bringing in consultants or fractional leaders to help guide strategy while the function continues to take shape.
This often comes down to a set of trade-offs:
- Speed versus long-term investment
- Immediate expertise versus internal development
- Flexibility versus organizational structure
For many teams, especially within small to mid-sized organizations, flexibility is becoming a critical part of how they build and scale HEOR and RWE capabilities.
Where Penfield Search Tends to Get Pulled In
As these needs become more complex, this is an area where Penfield Search can add value, particularly in helping clients think through roles that sit at the intersection of HEOR, RWE, biometrics, and broader evidence functions.
Less About Prediction, More About Direction
Rather than a clearly defined end state, what’s emerging is a shift in direction.
Organizations are moving toward more integrated, cross-functional evidence teams, with greater reliance on real-world data and advanced analytics. At the same time, that shift is creating a level of ambiguity. Roles are blending, expectations are evolving, and many teams are still working through how best to structure themselves.
For many organizations, the challenge is not just building HEOR capability. It is building it in a way that reflects how the work itself is changing.
Final Thoughts
As HEOR and RWE continue to evolve, so does the need for more thoughtful, flexible approaches to building the teams behind them.
For organizations navigating how to structure roles, define profiles, or scale capabilities across biometrics, clinical, and evidence functions, these decisions are becoming increasingly critical to overall development strategy, particularly as evidence generation plays a greater role in regulatory, access, and commercial outcomes. Without a clear evidence strategy early, organizations risk generating data that may not fully support regulatory, access, or reimbursement goals. As a result, building the right HEOR, RWE, and biometrics capabilities at the right time is becoming a more central part of development planning.
If you are navigating how to structure these roles or build your team, Penfield Search is available to serve as a thought partner in that process.
Contact us to learn how our team supports HEOR, RWE, and broader evidence-focused resourcing needs at: www.penfieldsearch.com.