Thermo Fisher Scientific’s PPD business has introduced the Clinical Trial Carbon Calculator to assist research sponsors and biopharmaceutical companies in minimising, estimating, and understanding the environmental impact of trials.
The initiative seeks to integrate sustainability into clinical trial execution and planning through collaboration with investigative sites, sponsors and vendors.
It reflects the PPD clinical research business’ vision to promote sustainability throughout the clinical development ecosystem.
The new open-access tool offers an evidence-based framework for evaluating emissions at every stage of a clinical trial.
This includes aspects such as patient travel, product manufacturing, site operations, and laboratory sample processing.
By assessing the contribution of each activity to total emissions, users can pinpoint significant carbon hotspots, evaluate study designs for carbon dioxide equivalent efficiency, using the Clinical Trial Carbon Calculator.
Additionally, users will be able to implement strategies for reducing emissions while maintaining trial compliance and quality.
Thermo Fisher Scientific environmental sustainability senior director Michael Cohen said: “As an industry committed to improving human health, we also have a responsibility to protect the planet. Our new Carbon Calculator gives sponsors the insights they need to make data-driven, sustainable choices in trial design, before the waste and fossil fuels are burned.
“Our goal is to help practitioners identify key areas where we can work together to decarbonise. Sustainability in clinical development is a shared challenge that demands shared solutions.
“By helping our customers start to understand the material sources of their carbon impact, we’re equipping them with the information needed to make a change, ensuring the way we advance medicine also protects the world we live in.”
