How Reliable RTSM Solutions Boost Sustainability in Clinical Trials

How reliable RTSM Solutions are reducing the Carbon Footprint of Clinical Trials: The urgency of the climate crisis requires attention from all sectors, and biomedical research is no exception. As climate change impacts health outcomes, the biomedical community faces ongoing pressure to adapt its research practices to become more sustainable, and to address the growing health challenges posed by environmental concerns. This article considers how the use of reliable RTSM solutions is reducing the carbon footprint of clinical trials.

Biomedical Research and the Climate Crisis

According to the Sustainable Clinical Trials Group, biomedical research contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, estimating that clinical trials may be responsible for around 100 megatons of CO2 emissions every year. With extensive energy use in research premises and air travel, it is critical for trials to implement logistical and reliable solutions to managing their carbon emissions. There are upwards of 350,000 national and international trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, and when using the average calculated by the Sustainable Clinical Trials Group, this gives a total carbon consumption of a staggering 27·5 million tons. Clinical trials NEED to decarbonize. Research published in The Lancet urges researchers and clinical trial developers to justify the value of the information they are seeking, to determine the value of the carbon used during a clinical trial. The Low Carbon Clinical Trials Group lays out guidance that can be used to identify high carbon emission hotspots and areas where alternative approaches could reduce their environmental footprint.

One promising solution to decarbonizing clinical trials is the adoption of RTSM technology, a system that aligns well with the goal of lowering the carbon emissions of clinical trials.

What is RTSM?

Randomization and Trial Supply Management, or RTSM, is a comprehensive system that enables clinical trial operations to run efficiently in the face of complex logistical considerations, maintaining the integrity of clinical trial randomization, while automating key areas such as inventory management and drug distribution.

Key Components:

• Participant Randomization

• Trial Supply Management

• Data Integration and Monitoring

How does RTSM Reduce the Carbon Footprint of Clinical Trials?

There are several ways in which a sophisticated RTSM system can reduce the carbon footprint of a clinical trial.

Automating the resupply of investigational products based on recruitment rates, tailored to specific study sites and times, keeps waste to a minimum and reduces the number of shipments raised. This targeted supply approach helps to eliminate overproduction and transportation emissions which are commonly associated with surplus inventory and waste.

RTSM systems digitize the randomization process, which not only influences the validity of clinical data, but by replacing paper-based documents such as treatment allocation records and supply management logs you can significantly reduce the environmental impact of paper usage.

Data integration and remote monitoring capabilities of RTSM systems allow study teams to manage trial logistics from afar. This is not only a key facilitator in decentralized and global studies, but eliminates the need for frequent physical site visits, further reducing the carbon footprint.

Cloud-based RTSM platforms are growing in popularity due to their energy efficiency, compared to traditional on-premise servers, and cloud providers often source energy from renewable sources, which further decreases the carbon footprint of clinical trials.

Achieving Net Zero

With many major pharmaceutical companies setting ambitious net-zero carbon

emission targets for as early as 2030, it’s no surprise that RTSM technology is experiencing its largest growth in recent years. Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly adopting RTSM solutions to streamline clinical trial logistics, reduce waste, and minimize the carbon footprint of drug supply chains. Companies such as Perceptive eClinical provide RTSM management from initial shipment to destruction, offering a comprehensive suite of tools that streamline the entire clinical trial process from randomization to supply management. These platforms are designed to handle every stage of the trial logistics, optimizing processes such as drug distribution, inventory tracking, and participant randomization, to not only enhance the credibility of study findings but to employ greener solutions to the field of biomedical science.

Sustainable supply chains

Not only are companies adopting RTSM to reduce their clinical trial carbon footprint in accordance with new ongoing guidance, but many are also increasingly adopting frameworks to ensure clinical trial transparency, reduce carbon emissions, and improve labor conditions across their supply networks. EcoVadis plays a key role in this process by providing a globally recognized platform for assessing and rating suppliers’ sustainability performance.

Through its comprehensive evaluations, EcoVadis helps organizations identify risks, measure progress, and collaborate with suppliers to drive improvements in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices, ultimately fostering more sustainable and resilient supply chains.

Resources

Sustainable Healthcare Coalition. Clinical trials, health and climate change. https://shcoalition.org/ clinical-trials/

The Lancet. A strategy to reduce the carbon footprint of clinical trials. https://www.thelancet.com/ journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)01384-2/fulltext

BMJ Open. Quantifying the carbon footprint of clinical trials: guidance development and case studies. https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/1/e075755