Brief · Use case · Medical Affairs
Disease Area Overview.
LiveOverviewGet up to speed on a disease area: how large the burden is, how patients are treated today, where care falls short and what is in late-stage development.
Disease Area Overview is a ready-made use case for Medical Affairs. It ships under the Overview template.
For medical affairs and strategy leads entering a new area. You get the answer first, the established facts separated from inference, the terms defined for a newcomer and what would change the picture. Epidemiology and treatment claims are cited with a certainty label or marked as gaps.
Add it to your library to reuse from New → From template. Edit the saved copy in your library on the service form.
The decision
For a medical affairs lead entering type 2 diabetes in adults in Europe: how large is the burden, how are patients treated today, where does care fall short, and what is in late-stage development?
What the overview covers
A disease-area overview answers four questions in turn. For each, it separates what the sources establish from what the specialist infers.
| Part of the picture | What the overview explains | Where it looks |
|---|---|---|
| The burden | How many adults live with diabetes in Europe, how many do not know it, and what it costs. The International Diabetes Federation estimates about one adult in ten, around 66 million people aged 20 to 79 in 2024, with roughly a third undiagnosed.1 | The IDF Diabetes Atlas, 11th edition, which is an estimate built from published surveys and not a count. |
| How patients are treated today | The sequence of treatment choices and what drives them, as set out in the joint consensus of the American Diabetes Association and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.2 | The 2022 consensus report on the management of hyperglycemia, and national guidelines where the reader’s market differs. |
| Where care falls short | Where the evidence shows gaps, such as diagnosis, weight management and cardiorenal risk, and where the sources disagree.1,2 | The consensus report and the Atlas, with a certainty label on each statement. |
| What is in late-stage development | The late-stage programs and what each aims to change. Pipelines move quickly, so the overview dates its search.3 | Public trial registries, searched on a stated date. |
What the overview does
Numbers with their basis. The IDF’s European figures are for adults aged 20 to 79: a prevalence of 9.8 percent, about 66 million people, and 33.6 percent undiagnosed in 2024. The overview states what the IDF counts and does not count, and does not present an estimate as a census.1
Treatment as the field describes it. The 2022 ADA and EASD consensus updated earlier statements with a literature review since 2018, gave more weight to weight management, social determinants and physical activity, and drew on cardiorenal outcome trials. The overview reports the consensus as a consensus and names where national practice differs.2
Established, inferred, unknown. Every statement is labeled as one of the three. A statement about a gap in care that rests on one source is marked as such.
A pipeline with a date on it. Late-stage development is a snapshot. The overview says when and where it searched, and what would make the snapshot stale.3
Recommended length
Standard
A reader entering a disease area needs the point, the established facts and what they mean. Standard carries that in about 1,100 words; choose Comprehensive if the mechanism and the terms need their own space.
You can pick another length on the form. The other two stay available.
Assumptions the overview checks
The overview says which assumptions its conclusions rest on and names the most fragile one in its first paragraph. Examples for this subject:
- The IDF figures describe the same population as the question, adults aged 20 to 79 in the European region.
- The 2022 consensus still reflects current practice in the reader’s market.
- The registry search on the stated date captured the late-stage programs.
Standards, guidance and sources
Burden
- IDF Diabetes Atlas, 11th edition (2025): regional estimates for Europe, including undiagnosed diabetes, mortality and health expenditure.1
Treatment
- Davies, M. J. et al., Management of hyperglycaemia in type 2 diabetes, 2022: a consensus report by the ADA and the EASD.2
Pipeline
- ClinicalTrials.gov, the registry maintained by the US National Library of Medicine, searched on a stated date.3
The decision practice behind the memo itself is on the template page.
What gets flagged
Any figure that is an estimate and not a count, any statement of a care gap that rests on a single source, and any program in late-stage development that is not confirmed by a registry entry.
What arrives
- Bottom line
- Why it matters now
- What we know
- How it works
- What it means
- Terms and actors
- What would change this
What it will not do
It explains and does not recommend. If you need a recommendation on what to do next, the Decision Memo is the template for it.
It is not clinical guidance. It describes the field for a reader who is entering it; it does not tell a clinician how to treat a patient.
It does not recommend an action. An overview explains; it does not decide. When you have a choice to make, a Decision Memo is the template for it.
It is one specialist’s reading of public sources. Check any figure you will act on against its primary source.
It does not replace reading the regulation, the filing or the guideline it cites.
References
- [1] International Diabetes Federation. IDF Diabetes Atlas, 11th edition, 2025. Europe region fact sheet. The figures cited were read in the Europe fact sheet (diabetes among adults aged 20 to 79, 2024); the regional page itself could not be opened from our tools.
- [2] Davies, M. J. et al. Management of hyperglycaemia in type 2 diabetes, 2022: a consensus report by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD). Diabetologia, 2022;65(12):1925–1966. DOI 10.1007/s00125-022-05787-2. Summarized from the ADA’s press release and search excerpts; the report was not read in full.
- [3] U.S. National Library of Medicine. ClinicalTrials.gov. Search on a stated date; results change.
Links checked 9 October 2026
These are the sources the template drew on. None of their authors or issuers has reviewed it.
About the Brief service
A Brief is a written answer from one specialist, at the depth you asked for. It arrives with its sources, and it closes by saying plainly what would change the conclusion. Nothing is hidden behind a summary, and anything the expert could not source is marked as a gap rather than filled in.
To edit a saved template, open New → Brief → From template, or the library rail on the service form.