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Novartis Greener Clinical Trials Program
Environmental sustainability is a meaningful component to the Novartis strategy and operating model, and we remain committed to driving a sustainable approach to clinical trials,with a strong focus on efficiency as the key tool
in the early stages of development.
We continue to build on our progress with the Novartis Greener Clinical Trials initiative.
Activity
The Novartis Greener Clinical Trials program (launched in 2020 and expanded to company-wide effort in 2022) integrates sustainable practices into clinical trials, from design to execution.
The initiative has advanced our sustainability goals in these areas:
- Reduced the volume of patient medication and clinical sample kits and their shipments to hospitals and labs via the use of improved data and analytics capabilities.
- Introduced reusable shipper boxes covering almost all cool-chain medication shipments to hospitals.
- Limited the frontloading of medication at clinical sites prior to patient recruitment.
- Introduced guidance for sustainable clinical trial design and execution across our organization and internal processes.
Potential outcome/impact
The program has reduced the carbon footprint of our manufactured drug products and patient medication kits for clinical trials, clinical trial medication shipments, single-use shipper boxes waste and trial monitoring on-site visits by between 40% and 70% over a 3-year period.
Novartis is sharing its experience with private and public partners within the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition (SHC) to advance progress in reducing the environmental impact of clinical trials.
Novartis was awarded the 2023 Terra Carta Seal for this initiative. Part of the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI), the Terra Carta Seal recognizes global companies that are actively supporting a climate- and nature-positive future by aligning their core operations and strategies with sustainable practices.