Reducing excursion evaluation time from days to seconds

The question of how to speed up clinical trials is complicated, especially considering that many trial stages simply cannot be rushed in the interest of trial subjects and the general public. However, process improvements can go a long way.
Experts identified the manual temperature excursion evaluations as a major source of delay and failed patient visits during trials.

The Clinical Module

Sometimes it can take days to manually evaluate temperature excursions, leading to a cascade of disruptions which often cause valuable time to be lost during clinical trials. In 2015, Novo Nordisk and TSS commenced talks on collaborating to develop a temperature management system for clinical trials that would be automated, risk-based, and efficient. Their collaboration led to the launch of the TSS Clinical Module— a cloud-based system which automates temperature monitoring during clinical trials, reducing excursion evaluation times from days to seconds.

Automating clinical supply chains

TSS’ Clinical Module speeds up excursion evaluation by automatically comparing aggregated temperature data from in-transit and storage loggers with the stability budget when temperature excursions occur. Its risk-based analysis is instantly able to determine whether the excursion is a deviation or not, allowing for trial investigators to make quick and informed decisions about how to proceed.

Novo Nordisk has so far implemented the TSS Clinical Module at over 450 trial sites around the world and have seen significant gains in the speed and efficiency of their clinical trials.

Here are 4 reasons why your company should implement the TSS Clinical Module at trial sites:

Evaluate excursions within seconds

The ability to complete excursion evaluations within seconds instead of days is a particularly important advantage of using the TSS Clinical Module. The TSS Clinical Module accomplishes this through cloud-based automation of the evaluation process. With emphasis on maintaining accurate stability data and updating stability budgets after each temperature excursion, this feature is effectively risk-based, allowing for flexibility and precision in handling risks arising from temperature excursions during clinical trials.

Comply with GxP and data integrity regulations

Being technology-agnostic, the TSS Clinical Module supports automatic temperature data uploads from multiple loggers or even manual entry. When used in conjunction with appropriately detailed SOPs, the Clinical Module guarantees that all data collected during clinical trials are ALCOA and ALCOA+ compliant.

It is also noteworthy that the TSS Clinical Module can also generate audit reports with just one click.

Reduce failed patient visits and improve service to patients

The rights and wellbeing of trial subjects have always been paramount in the conduct of clinical trials. Consequently, a system like the TSS Clinical Module which reduces failed patient visits due to manual excursion evaluations can improve service to patients and protect their wellbeing while also enhancing the efficiency of clinical trials.

Strategically improve trial processes through centralized monitoring

The Clinical Module also serves as a centralized hub for managing data from clinical trials occurring at multiple sites. The data can be compared and analyzed with a view to improving the performance of trial sites individually and collectively. As Ina Lewinsky, Project Manager at Novo Nordisk puts it,

“Having access to global data and looking at variations over time allows for both local and central process improvements.”

The TSS Clinical Module is precisely the temperature monitoring solution trial sponsors need to implement risk-based and adequately centralized monitoring of clinical trials. It is technology-agnostic, ICH-GCP compliant, and efficient.

To learn more about how to implement the TSS Clinical Module at your company’s trial sites, request a free consultation today.

You may also be interested in

Automation is making temperature excursion management simpler and more efficient for clinical sites

Are healthcare professionals working at clinical sites across the world satisfied? It might seem like a strange question to ask, but the way we feel can impact our professional performance in important ways. Perhaps the question is not how satisfied Clinical Operations professionals are, but whether they feel their performance is impacted by lots of time-consuming manual processes that could benefit from automation? Are these processes hampering clinical trial performance?
Read moreDownload Whitepaper
A warehouse interior, illustrating the pharmaceutical supply chain.

End-to-end visibility is the key to creating more efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable pharmaceutical supply chains

Pharmaceutical supply chains are often defined by a lack of connectivity between tiers, stakeholders and operational islands. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Read moreDownload Whitepaper

Exploring the solution to a global question

When it comes to global transportation and shipping of drugs, simply knowing where they are is no longer enough. Pharmaceutical organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the safety regulations which go into storage and transportation, i.e. ensuring that every drug which reaches the patient end, is effective and safe for consumption.
Read moreDownload Whitepaper

You may also be interested in

Extending TempMonitor BLE to Ultra-Low Temperatures

Introducing the new TSS Dry Ice Probes, enginereed for accurate and GxP-compliant temperature monitoring down to –90°C. Available in two lengths for flexible setup — built to safeguard product integrity in every environment.
Read more
People seated at round tables in a conference room watching a presenter speak in front of a large screen displaying a pie chart.

Working Together to Make Clinical Trials Faster and Safer

TSS recently hosted the TSS User Forum 2025, bringing together leading experts from the life science industry to discuss how automation, data integrity, and collaboration can make temperature management in clinical trials faster, safer, and more reliable.
Read more

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up for our newsletter to receive all the latest TSS news and insights in temperature management solutions.