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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Recurso digital |
| Language: | |
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Zenodo
2025
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17748466 |
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Table of Contents:
- <p><span lang="EN-US">This thesis evaluates the environmental impact of increasing medication adherence through the implementation of an electronic pillbox in the treatment pathway of prostate cancer. The study focused on AKEEGA™ tablets, an oral therapy combining two active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs): Abiraterone acetate and Niraparib. Two treatment cases were constructed to assess the differences in environmental impact over a one-year time horizon.</span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US">Health states for the complete treatment pathway were identified alongside with inventories linked to each state. Once coupled to patient distribution data, a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach was applied. Annual use of healthcare pathway elements (HPEs) could then be calculated. </span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US">The analysis revealed that the case with pillbox resulted in a higher total environmental impact (4.82E+05 kg CO</span><sub><span lang="EN-US">2</span></sub><span lang="EN-US">eq) compared to the case without (3.77E+05 kg CO</span><sub><span lang="EN-US">2</span></sub><span lang="EN-US">eq). This difference, approximately 1.3-fold, was predominantly driven by the production of AKEEGA™, which accounted for over 90% of the total impact in both cases. Scenario analysis confirmed that changes in adherence primarily affect medication-related emissions, while the impact of other healthcare processes remains negligible.</span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US">The findings indicate that improving adherence via electronic pillbox use does not reduce environmental impacts in this treatment pathway, but rather increases them due to higher medication consumption. However, the results are shaped by assumptions and data limitations, particularly regarding adherence rates and pharmaceutical production impacts. Despite these uncertainties, this study highlights the role of medication manufacturing in the environmental footprint of prostate cancer treatment and underscores the importance of improving data availability in this field of study.</span></p>