The green agenda plays a very important role within the EU Commission’s transformative policies,and it impacts also on the development and availability of pharmaceutical products characterised by a improved sustainability; the undergoing revision of the pharmaceutical legislation, for example, may include among other the request of environmental risk assessment and urban wastewater treatmenty.
During a recent EIPG webinar, Dr Mattson discussed from many different perspectives how R&D initiatives may influence green manufacturing. In the ’90-ies the main attention was focused on packaging and energy, whereas the ’20-ies shows a greater attention to API-related emission and to aspects linked to the efficient use of resources and the resulting carbon footprint. Biological substances, for example, may be more easily biodegradable than synthetic small molecules, but they may also require more energy to ensure the correct storage conditions.
The development of green processes represents a great challenge for chemists and pharmacists working in the pharmaceutical industry and many projects are emerging to cope with these changes. The greener approach includes, among many other goals, the research of drugs with no off-target effects and the avoidance of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) substances.
Green pharmaceutical processes should also prefer more eco-friendly, renewable raw materials, with a particular attention to the choice of solvents and reagents. During the webinar it emerged that the main source of pharmaceutical pollution is the excretion od APIs by patients, followed by inappropriate disposal.
To learn more about this topic you can read the article on EIPG website.
