From Forecast to Foresight: How Weather Data Can Help the Pharmaceutical Industry

Pharma

Posted on 7/10/2025

Categories: WEATHER

The weather's influence on our health is significant, yet often overlooked. Beyond seasonal sniffles, environmental conditions can dictate the spread of serious diseases around the world. This understanding is vital for pharmaceutical companies and public health bodies, helping them to better anticipate and respond to health threats. Using advanced weather data, they can plan ahead, improving patient care and making sure vital medicines are in the right place at the right time.

The Link Between Weather and Illness

Nowhere is the weather's impact on health clearer than in the spread of infectious diseases. Illnesses carried by insects like mosquitoes and ticks are highly sensitive to climatic factors. Warmer temperatures and increased rainfall can expand their habitat, leading to a rise in diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and the Zika virus. Pharmaceutical companies monitor these weather patterns to forecast demand and guide research. For example, if models predict an unusually intense monsoon season, a drug manufacturer can increase production of antimalarial treatments for that region in advance.

Seasonal respiratory illnesses, including influenza, are known to thrive in cool, dry conditions. Public health models now regularly incorporate temperature and humidity data to forecast the severity of an upcoming flu season. This allows pharmaceutical firms to better manage the supply of vaccines and antiviral drugs. Furthermore, stagnant air can worsen pollution, and forecasters monitor air quality indices (AQI) to predict a rise in the need for asthma inhalers and other respiratory drugs.

The Power of Data and Predictive Technology

Turning raw weather data into useful health forecasts requires advanced, reliable technology. AI and machine learning algorithms are now essential tools, capable of analysing vast datasets to identify patterns that predict future disease hotspots. These models sift through historical weather data, such as temperature and humidity, alongside public health statistics to generate remarkably accurate forecasts.

The success of these predictive tools depends entirely on the quality and availability of the data they use. Beyond the data itself, OpenWeather's enterprise solution is built around core features that guarantee performance and reliability for the pharmaceutical industry:

  • High-Volume Capacity: Data can be requested intensively, with a limit of up to 200,000 API calls per minute, ensuring that data-hungry analytical models for disease forecasting run without interruption.
  • Guaranteed Reliability (SLA): A 99.9% service availability guarantee, backed by a formal Service Level Agreement, is included to ensure that business-critical systems, such as supply chain monitoring, are always online.
  • Contractual Compliance: A standard EULA is provided, and complex customer contractual requirements can be accommodated, ensuring a smooth procurement process for large organizations.
  • Dedicated Support: OpenWeather provides a premium level of support, dedicating an account manager to each client to oversee the provision of services and act as a primary point of contact.

Customisation and Collaboration in Action

A resilient pharmaceutical supply chain depends on seamless collaboration between logistics, warehousing, and procurement. The OpenWeather Dashboard serves as an indispensable operational hub, providing a shared, visual interface so all teams can work from a single source of truth. When the Dashboard visualizes a forecast of an extreme heatwave, the logistics team can proactively ensure that temperature-sensitive medicines are shipped in refrigerated units and rerouted away from potential transport delays, preventing spoilage and ensuring patient safety.

This is where the power of customisation, available through the OpenWeather Enterprise Solution, becomes clear. Consider a pharmaceutical company that manufactures a sensitive biologic drug that must be kept within a strict temperature range. Standard weather data is useful, but an enterprise client can work with their dedicated account manager to request custom-built reports and alerts for the specific variables that directly impact their unique operations. This could include:

  • Alerts for specific temperature and humidity thresholds along shipping routes that could compromise the drug's efficacy.
  • Triggers based on air quality forecasts that predict a spike in respiratory conditions, signaling the need to increase production of relevant medications.
  • Forecasts tailored to agricultural partners who supply raw biological materials, optimising the entire manufacturing supply chain.

Case Study: Tackling Disease in Mauritius

A compelling real-world example of this is unfolding in the island nation of Mauritius. Rising global temperatures are expanding the reach of mosquito-borne diseases, creating new public health challenges. While not traditionally endemic, diseases like dengue have caused significant outbreaks. One of the largest followed a major flood in January 2024, highlighting the stark link between climate events and disease spread.

To address this, researchers from the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine (AITHM) are developing specialised software to predict future outbreaks on the island. The research focuses on building models that account for local conditions. The project takes a multi-pronged approach to forecasting disease risk:

  • It studies how specific local weather variables, including temperature, rainfall, and humidity, impact the local mosquito populations.
  • The models incorporate other critical factors that influence disease transmission, such as human travel patterns and the effects of urbanisation.
  • The methodology combines machine learning techniques with established mechanistic models to improve forecast accuracy.
  • The research benefits from international technical collaboration to enhance its robustness.

Access to detailed weather data is critical for this research. The project received support from OpenWeather’s Student and Healthcare Initiative, which provided access to products such as the OpenWeather Current Weather and Forecasts collection to fuel the modelling work. The goal, Mr Teeluck said, is to give the government and community more time to prepare for potential outbreaks by forecasting when they might happen. This research shows how targeted, data-driven forecasting can directly strengthen a nation's ability to monitor and prepare for disease outbreaks.

Alternatively, through an enterprise-level solution, the project can be supported by a dedicated account manager to facilitate access to the high-volume, custom data feeds necessary to fuel the modelling work. The goal is to give the government more time to prepare for potential outbreaks by forecasting when they might happen.

As climate patterns become more erratic, the ability to forecast their impact on health will become more crucial than ever. Combining comprehensive, reliable weather data with modern analytics is the clear path forward. It allows the pharmaceutical industry and public health agencies to anticipate health trends, manage resources effectively, and ultimately protect communities by turning weather-driven risks into manageable events.