PHARMECO

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.