✕
☰

How asynchronous clinical trials can help pharma reduce its carbon footprint

by

Angela Labrozzi, channel partner director, Within3, outlines how an asynchronous clinical trials model can help pharma and healthcare companies lower emissions, save money, and maximise time.

Key insights:

Today, the global pharmaceutical industry accounts for 4.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. For every $1 million the sector made in 2015, it generated 48.55 tonnes of CO2. In the battle to curb global warming and the devastating effects it will ultimately have on people and the planet, the industry must strive to reduce emissions.

A complex global climate picture

The pharmaceutical industry is facing environmental challenges on multiple fronts. A 2020 Medicines Shortage Report revealed that China and India produce 60-80% of the world’s active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). As a result, medicines often need to travel long distances before they reach patients, and disruptions in the global supply chain – ironically, including those caused by extreme weather due to climate change – could interfere with drug production. Events like Hurricane Maria in 2017, which created a massive bottleneck when multiple major pharma manufacturing facilities were forced to shut down, will only become more commonplace if temperatures continue to rise. A changing climate also creates conditions that contribute to the spread of diseases like malaria, increasing the number of patients who will be dependent upon certain medications.

Minimising travel

There are a number of ways that pharma companies can reduce their emissions. One method gaining attention is the adoption of more efficient clinical trials. Recently, the Pistoia Alliance created The Clinical Trial Environmental Impact Community of Interest to accurately compare the carbon footprint of centralised clinical trials to a hybrid and decentralised trial model. For life science companies, reducing the amount of carbon spent across the product life cycle is critical, and it is becoming clear that pre-clinical and clinical trials models can be improved to not only be more environmentally friendly through a decentralised and asynchronous model, but also more patient-centric, cost-effective, and time efficient.

During the pandemic, almost 84% of countries around the world reported better air quality as air and ground travel stopped or slowed. Removing carbon-heavy modes of transportation from peoples’ daily lives had an almost immediate positive impact on the environment. While restrictions have eased, the industry learned first-hand the environmental benefit of live virtual and asynchronous engagement in planning and executing clinical trials.

A decentralised approach to various aspects of clinical trials can also amplify collaboration as it reduces the environmental impact of in-person participation. Using asynchronous engagement technology can shorten timelines, streamline projects, and improve stakeholder management by allowing participants to engage on their schedule, from home or work. Greenphire analysis found that, on average, clinical trial participants travel 67 miles to study sites. If some aspects of patient engagement can be carried out virtually, environmental impact is reduced and patient retention is likely to increase as travel barriers – cost, time, and access – are eliminated.

An argument for change

Other aspects of clinical trial development and operations may include in-person meetings to design study protocols or review data. These have an environmental cost as well, not just from air and ground travel but from water use, food waste, and plastic consumption.

A team of 10 to 15 people who travel to 20 meetings could save 220 tonnes of CO2 by opting for virtual or asynchronous engagement – an amount that would otherwise take 5,640 trees to offset. If pharma companies adopt a virtual and asynchronous approach to more trial-related activities, they can proactively reduce total carbon emissions.

Many organisations understand the need to become more eco-conscious, and have created internal initiatives to become carbon-neutral or negative. World leaders are also taking note of how the pharmaceutical industry impacts environmental concerns and forming coalitions in response, including the Sustainable Market Initiative Health Systems Task Force. And the inaugural Sustainability in Pharma and Healthcare Congress, held in the UK in September 2022, brought together pharmaceutical organisations and healthcare providers from around the world to discuss and cooperate on carbon zero and sustainability targets.

For an industry such as pharma, even incremental changes can have a resounding impact on reducing emissions without compromising the ability to develop life-altering treatments for patients around the world.

Back to topbutton