PHARMECO

Advancing safe and sustainable by design practices in pharmaceutical manufacturing

Summary

The health sector has a significant impact on the environment; in OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, it is responsible for between 3 and 8% of CO2 emissions. It also uses large quantities of water, energy, solvents and fossil-based raw materials, and generates a lot of waste.

The aim of PHARMECO is to trigger a green revolution in the manufacture of medicines.

As a first step, the project will enhance the early stages of pharmaceutical development by integrating ‘safe and sustainable by design’ (SSbD) principles. Promising innovative technologies and process optimisations will be selected based on their potential to significantly reduce the use of solvents, substances of very high concern, energy, and water in pharmaceutical production practices covering chemical synthesis, biomanufacturing and decontamination. Additionally, considerations of scalability and alignment with the corporate strategies of PHARMECO’s industrial partners will be taken into account, paving the way for the implementation of more efficient and sustainable manufacturing processes for various pharmaceutical products.  

In the next phase, the project will test how the SSbD-driven technologies and processes perform at a larger scale, such as that needed for clinical trials and transfer to standard manufacture settings.

One major deliverable of the project focuses on digital tools to support environmentally-sound decision-making when developing new (bio)manufacturing processes. The modular tools will allow users to assess sustainability from multiple perspectives covering all stages of the product’s life cycle.

Finally, the project plans to harmonise the way environmental sustainability assessments of pharmaceuticals are carried out by delivering guidelines that are scientifically-robust, practical, and accepted by stakeholders.

Together, the project outputs will form a comprehensive toolkit to support the development and manufacture of more sustainable pharmaceuticals and to evaluate their environmental impact along the whole life cycle.

Participants

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Universities, research organisations, public bodies, non-profit groups
  • Centre For Process Innovation Limited Lbg, Redcar Cleveland, United Kingdom
  • Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom
  • Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering GMBH, Graz, Austria
  • Rijksinstituut Voor Volksgezondheid En Milieu, Bilthoven, Netherlands
  • Rise Research Institutes Of Sweden AB, Boras, Sweden
  • Stichting Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen, Netherlands
  • Technische Universitat Berlin, Berlin, Germany
  • Universitaet Graz, Graz, Austria
  • Universiteit Gent, Gent, Belgium
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies (<€500 m turnover)
  • Aimplas - Asociacion De Investigacion De Materiales Plasticos Y Conexas, Paterna, Spain
  • Benkei, Lyon, France
  • Biotoolomics Limited, Consett, United Kingdom
  • Cultzyme SL, Donostia - San Sebastian, Spain
  • Lifeclean International AB, Uddevalla, Sweden
  • Microinnova Engineering GMBH, Allerheiligen Bei Wildon, Austria
  • Rise Processum AB, Ornskoldsvik, Sweden
  • Sfe Process, Villers-Les-Nancy, France
  • Vtu Engineering Belgium BV, Mechelen, Belgium
IHI industry partners
  • Abbvie Deutschland GMBH & Co Kg, Wiesbaden, Germany
  • Abbvie Inc, North Chicago Il, United States
  • Ares Trading SA, Coinsins, Switzerland
  • AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Wilmington, United States
  • Astrazeneca Uk Limited, Cambridge, United Kingdom
  • Boehringer Ingelheim Internationalgmbh, Ingelheim, Germany
  • Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GMBH &Co Kg, Ingelheim, Germany
  • Glaxosmithkline Research & Development Limited, London, United Kingdom
  • Institut De Recherches Internationales Servier, Gif-Sur-Yvette, France
  • Istituto di Ricerche Biomediche Antoine Marxer RBM S.p.A., Colleretto Giacosa, Italy
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica Nv, Beerse, Belgium
  • Merck Electronics Kgaa, Darmstadt, Germany
  • Merck Healthcare Kgaa, Darmstadt, Germany
  • Merck Kommanditgesellschaft Auf Aktien, Darmstadt, Germany
  • Merck Life Science KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
  • Merck Serono S.A, Roma, Italy
  • Novo Nordisk A/S, Bagsvaerd, Denmark
  • Oril Industrie, Bolbec, France
  • Pfizer Healthcare India Private Limited, TamilNadu, India
  • Pfizer Inc, New York City, United States
  • Pfizer Ireland Pharmaceuticals, Cork, Ireland
  • Pfizer Italia s.r.l., Latina, Italy
  • Pfizer Limited, Sandwich, United Kingdom
  • Pfizer R&D UK Limited, Sandwich, United Kingdom
  • Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GMBH, Frankfurt Am Main, Germany
  • Sanofi-Aventis Recherche & Developpement, Gentilly, France
  • Sanofi Genzyme, Cambridge, United States
  • Sanofi US Services Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
  • Sanofi Winthrop Industrie, Gentilly, France
  • Sofradim Production Sasu, Trevoux, France
  • Swiftpharma BV, Gent, Belgium
  • UCB BioSciences GmbH, Monheim, Germany
  • UCB Biopharma, Bruxelles / Brussel, Belgium
  • UCB Farchim, Bulle, Switzerland
  • UCB Pharma B.V., Breda, Netherlands
  • UCB celltech pharmaceuticals, Slough, United Kingdom

Participants
NameEU funding in €
Aimplas - Asociacion De Investigacion De Materiales Plasticos Y Conexas260 760
Benkei423 700
Cultzyme SL413 438
Lifeclean International AB50 000
Microinnova Engineering GMBH149 938
Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering GMBH2 599 801
Rijksinstituut Voor Volksgezondheid En Milieu340 000
Rise Processum AB158 890
Rise Research Institutes Of Sweden AB3 968 719
Sfe Process494 862
Stichting Radboud Universiteit579 959
Technische Universitat Berlin981 250
Universitaet Graz1 360 000
Universiteit Gent3 964 699
Vtu Engineering Belgium BV289 519
Total Cost16 035 535