Sustainability of DDCT

The digitalisation and decentralisation of clinical studies offers a promising opportunity to increase efficiency and reduce the environmental footprint at the same time.

We were able to prove this in MEDIACC and publish it in the renowned journal PLOS ONE 2023 using our own data. In our article "Clinical trials to go green - A sustainable argument for decentralised digital clinical trials", we examined the environmental benefits of decentralised digital clinical trials (DDCTs) compared to traditional, paper-based clinical trials.

We were able to show that DDCTs are not only more efficient and cost-effective, but can also contribute significantly to reducing CO₂ emissions and energy consumption.

CO2 consumption of clinical studies

Traditional clinical studies consume large amounts of paper and energy. DDCTs significantly reduce this consumption. For example, a typical clinical study with 2,000 patients visiting a study centre nine times requires around 164,800 sheets of paper. This corresponds to CO₂ emissions of 799 kg. Complete digitalisation can save up to 90.1% of CO₂ emissions.

The digitalisation of clinical studies therefore offers a significant advantage in terms of sustainability. According to our calculations, the complete digitalisation of a clinical study enables a reduction of 4,399 kg of CO₂ emissions, which is about ten times less CO₂ emissions compared to traditional methods. This is equivalent to a long-distance flight of 24,000 km (almost four times from Berlin to New York), and 237 trees would have to grow for a year to compensate for this.

Accelerating DDCT adoption: Collaborative approaches for a sustainable future

It is clear to us that the full digitalisation of a clinical study remains an ambitious objective and is not applicable in many study scenarios.

As DDCTs enable a more economical conduct of studies and also increase the chances of participation, the additional argument of environmental benefits should drive the efforts of all stakeholders to accelerate the integration of DDCT into clinical studies. To this end

Companies and research organisations should work together to promote the implementation of DDCTs and to overcome technical and regulatory hurdles.

MEDIACC is well positioned to utilise these technologies to have a positive impact on clinical research and the environment. Clients are thereby supported in making a contribution to sustainability in clinical research.

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