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Green chemistry: Reframing the mindset of the pharma industry

December 16, 2022
Green chemistry

In the last two decades, the pharma industry shifted towards the implementation of green chemistry practices and sustainability strategies, in search of innovative ways to minimize its environmental footprint. Green pharmaceuticals focus on minimizing hazards and pollution while adopting greener drug discovery routes and development practices.

The 12 principles of green chemistry

Green Chemistry was defined at the beginning of the 1990s as the “design of chemical products and processes to reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances.”

In the past decade, it received widespread interest and international adoption, due to its ability to harness chemical innovation to simultaneously meet environmental and economic goals.

The field was established by Paul Anastas and John Warner who introduced us to the twelve principles of green chemistry in 1998, as a framework for sustainable design. They were summarized recently into the more convenient and memorable acronym, PRODUCTIVELY [1].

Key elements of the principles include minimizing waste generation, reducing toxicity, using greener solvents, emphasizing catalysis and enzymatic chemistry, decreasing energy consumption, and increasing the use of renewable feedstocks.

12 principles of green chemistry

Actions for sustainable pharmaceuticals

Pharmaceutical industries can often be toxic and generate significant amounts of waste by-products and pollutants posing a threat to the environment and our health.

In the last years, green chemistry has shown the way to embed sustainable practices and the industry began steadily incorporating its principles. Besides the environmental reasons, green chemistry could make things simpler and faster, offering pharma another great benefit: cost-effectiveness.

Actions for more responsible chemistry have been encouraged by strategies and legislations adopted worldwide, as well as industry initiatives and science developments in introducing more elegant and greener chemistry.

On October 14, 2020, the European Commission released a chemical sustainability strategy as part of the European Green Deal's zero pollution goal. This strategy emphasizes the use of REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals) as the primary means of regulating chemicals in the EU. REACH (EC) 1907/2006 is a European Union regulation that affects the supply and use of substances).

Incentives for environmentally friendly practices also include the extension of patents for drugs with low environmental impact and medical policies that encourage the use of eco-friendly drugs over those that are less sustainable [2].

How can pharma manufacturing go greener?

A transition toward a sustainable future will require the use of greener technologies during the entire chemical lifecycle of a drug product, from chemical supply chains and manufacturing to the use and after-use environmental presence. Pharmaceuticals enter the environment through patient use, but also through improper disposal from manufacturers and thus can be traceable in rivers, lakes, soils, and, sometimes, drinking water.

Drug developers employ a range of actions to reduce their environmental footprint, focusing on developing cleaner and energy-efficient processes, adopting technologies that enable green chemistry execution, reducing waste, minimizing the number of process steps, and making use of renewable energy sources.

Solvents and stoichiometric reagents are critically important parameters to consider for greener pharmaceutical strategies. The most direct application would be to utilize eco-friendly, non-hazardous, reproducible, and efficient solvents and catalysts in the synthesis of drug molecules [3].

Besides affecting the reaction rates, solvents also heavily contribute to waste generation, while playing a significant role in determining the workers’ safety, process, and environmental safety [4].

Companies are also switching slowly to flow chemistry, a sustainable option that allows for precise control over the reaction conditions, being more energy efficient and generating less waste compared to traditional batch synthesis.

Additionally, implementing enzymatic chemistry involves the use of enzymes, which can be produced from renewable resources such as plants and microorganisms and can therefore reduce the use of hazardous chemicals and lower the environmental impact of the process.

Conclusion

The future of sustainable pharmaceuticals will be shaped by various forces and ensuring a greener system will require the fine-tuning of cross-disciplinary and complex practices. Fortunately, pharma companies are slowly beginning to assess their current business policies and are taking steps to improve their environmental, social, and governance compliance. 

However, it is important to note that achieving a truly sustainable pharmaceutical industry will be a long journey that requires the participation and cooperation of all stakeholders, including governments, regulators, pharmaceutical companies, and consumers. It will also require ongoing efforts to continuously assess and improve practices, as well as to adapt to changing circumstances and challenges.

References:

  1. Anastas P., Eghbali N., (2010). Green Chemistry: Principles and Practice, Chem. Soc. Rev., 39(1), 301–312. DOI:10.1039/b918763b 
  2. https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/comment/commentgreen-pharma-the-growing-demand-for-environmentally-friendly-drugs-5937344/
  3. Menges N., (2017). The Role of Green Solvents and Catalysts at the Future of Drug Design and of Synthesis, In H. E. Saleh M., Koller M.(Eds.), Green Chemistry, IntechOpen, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.71018
  4. Handa S., Sharma S., Das J., Braje, W., (2020). A Glimpse on Green Chemistry Practices in the Pharmaceutical Industry. ChemSusChem. DOI:10.1002/cssc.202000317 

 

 

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