Sustainable Procurement & CSR News - Pharmaceutical Industry

Bormioli Pharma creates pharmaceutical packaging for drug stability, safety, and sustainability, partnering with global health leaders and says it stands at the forefront of sustainability.
Andrea Lodetti, chief executive officer of Bormioli Pharma (pictured), tells OSP about this breakthrough within the pharmaceutical packaging industry. In an in-depth conversation, he shares profound insights into the company's notable journey toward sustainability and its ambitious trajectory in the pharmaceutical landscape. 

Merck is a vibrant science and technology company that has been dedicated to human progress for over 350 years. In order to be successful in this mission, we have to keep people and the planet at the heart of everything we do. That is why we launched a comprehensive sustainability program¹,² across our sectors.                                            
In the Healthcare sector, we work in a field where our commitment is to serve patients and to help improve, create and prolong lives. To do this sustainably, we must consider the impact our work has on our environment and our society. 

For our Healthcare R&D team, we are at the beginning of the value chain, and this poses the important question of how our decisions have ripple effects that impact sustainability across our business. We understand that R&D is at the front line of creation for Merck and the choices we make have massive implications on the entire product life cycle. Up to 80% of the environmental impact of a product is determined at the R&D phase3.

Key insights:

As China and India produce the majority of the worlds APIs which can cause supply chain disruption when combined with climate change.

A decentralised approach to various aspects of clinical trials can also amplify collaboration as it reduces the environmental impact of in-person participation.

If pharma companies adopt a virtual and asynchronous approach to more trial-related activities, they can proactively reduce total carbon emissions.

Today, the global pharmaceutical industry accounts for 4.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. For every $1 million the sector made in 2015, it generated 48.55 tonnes of CO2. In the battle to curb global warming and the devastating effects it will ultimately have on people and the planet, the industry must strive to reduce emissions.

Industry 4.0 ideas are starting to win over the drug industry, according to a researcher who says the desire for more efficient, sustainable production is driving the change. The term industry 4.0—the use of interconnected, “smart” technologies in manufacturing—has been around for nearly a decade. The approach has had a dramatic impact on a variety of industries with the automotive sector being a high-profile example.

The biopharmaceutical industry, by contrast, has been slower to move in a digital direction says Manan Shah, PhD, from the school of energy technology at Pandit Deendayal Energy University in Gujarat, India.

“The adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in biopharmaceutical manufacturing is still in its early stages compared to other industries such as automotive, manufacturing and electronics,” say Shah. The slow adoption is due to the high level of scrutiny surrounding the production of drugs.”

UK-based global pharma company AstraZeneca and US consumer products company Honeywell have announced a partnership to build a new “next generation” inhaler with a propellant that reduces Global Warming Potential by more than 99%. 

Social Sustainability performance is one of the three pillars of ESG. It assesses a company’s engagement with its workers, customers, suppliers, and the local community. It covers human rights, diversity and inclusion, health and safety, and community impact. Inattention to these factors can damage corporate brands and reputations and bring legal and regulatory penalties. Companies in every sector, including pharma, will need to make concerted efforts to improve their performance across all three ESG measures.

Bormioli Pharma has recently joined Glass Futures, a UK-based project that aims to develop a low CO2 emission approach to glass production.

The project, which will last ten years, will soon see the opening of a pilot furnace in the UK dedicated to the experimentation and application of these technologies.

"In a celebration year for glass, we are ready to confirm our role as innovators in the industry, with several concrete research and development initiatives," said Andrea Lodetti, CEO of Bormioli Pharma.

"This commitment is all the more important in a sector such as pharmaceuticals, where glass must not only contain, but also protect the therapeutic efficacy, and where the constant increase in production requires a serious rethinking of our responsibilities towards the environment."

Sustainability is a key pillar for Bormioli Pharma, which has committed to manufacturing 50% of its products using materials with low environmental impact by 2025.

Pharma, like every other industry, has an impact on the environment – and in the face of a climate crisis, it has a responsibility to find ways to mitigate this harm. In a GlobalData survey conducted last year, 43% of respondents considered the environment the most pressing ESG (environmental, social and governance) issue for the pharmaceutical sector to address.

As members of an industry that emits more greenhouse gases than the automotive sector, drug companies must make a concerted effort to reduce the carbon footprint associated with getting their medicines to patients – but how?

In our first edition of 2022, we look to the future with how best to support and improve our health service. The NHS is set to continually grow and learn through digital innovation as well as further efforts made towards a sustainable way of working.

This magazine homes in on topics that are now more than ever vitally important to the healthcare sector as a whole, including: A greener NHS and building a better future, digitising the NHS and the future of technology within facilities and pharma.

With the treatment of many diseases depending on effective pharmaceuticals, the pollution caused by pharmaceuticals has become an emerging and concerning environmental problem.1 This article will tackle some sustainable practices that can be used in pharmaceutical manufacturing for improved health and environmental benefits.

Cytiva is collaborating with Terracycle, to launch the global expansion of their filtration device recycling program.

Companies across a broad range of industries in six countries will have access to the Zero Waste Box to recycle their Whatman and Pall Life Sciences filtration devices.

The Zero Waste Box was designed as a solution to help companies reach their sustainability goals.

As the health impacts of climate change become harder to ignore, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies are facing increasing pressure from investors, employees, and government regulators to reduce their carbon emissions, and to make environmental sustainability a core part of their business.

Globally, large public biotech and pharmaceutical companies are responsible for more than 200 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and equivalent emissions, according to estimates from one 2022 report. The bulk of those emissions are tied to companies’ products and supply chains, which can be hard to measure. In the U.S., about 8.5% of the national carbon footprint can be attributed to the health care industry at large.

Leading pharma companies are setting targets for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, and reporting on their progress in meeting them. That’s according to a new study we at Oxford PharmaGenesis conducted in collaboration with researchers from the University of Oxford. But when it comes to reporting on supply chain emissions, more collaboration is needed – and the time is now.

Envirotainer, the global market leader in secure cold chain solutions for air transportation of pharmaceuticals and Air France KLM Martinair Cargo (AFKLMP Cargo), the leading airline in pharmaceutical logistics, today announced their collaboration on Sustainability.

Envirotainer and Air France KLM Martinair Cargo each have a strong focus on sustainability and are pursuing multiple initiatives with a view to achieving more sustainable operations. Being long-term close partners, both organisations sought to strengthen the initiatives by collaboration.

Air France KLM Martinair Cargo has approved the newly introduced Envirotainer Releye® container and is in the process of implementing it in its booking system as part of its product portfolio. The Releye provides outstanding environmental performance, delivering up to 90% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to available passive solutions, based on life-cycle analysis.

TCS is working with clients across retail, financial services, pharma, manufacturing, automobile, consumer goods as well as group companies to offer these IoT-based solutions to track emissions and energy consumption, said Regu Ayyaswamy, global head, IoT and digital engineering, TCS.

“There is a lot of corporate board-level focus on sustainability. So, people are really looking at how they can grow their business sustainably. Three years back, everybody was working with minimum viable products but now customers have gone on scale,” he said.

A leading North American pharmacy retailer has deployed TCS Clever Energy to reduce emissions by 26% across thousands of its stores.

Environmental sustainability performance is one of the three pillars of ESG, measuring the energy a company consumes, the waste it generates, the natural resources it uses, and the consequences for ecosystems and habitats Momentum is on the side of the sustainability movement. Citizens, governments, regulators, and the media are turning the spotlight on corporations and demanding action. Companies in every sector, including pharma, will need to make concerted efforts to improve their performance across all three ESG measures.

Taking stock of pharma’s environmental impact
But while the pharma industry of today is replete with ambitious carbon reduction targets and prominent shows of solidarity – GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is one of COP26’s principal partners – there’s evidence that the sector has some way to go before it truly takes stock of its carbon footprint and wider environmental impact.

“The pharma industry appears to have conveniently hid behind its image of clean factories making life-saving drugs,” says McMaster University associate professor of engineering and chair of eco-entrepreneurship Lotfi Belkhir, who has been highly critical of pharma’s approach towards its own carbon impact. “Who cares about carbon footprint when you’re doing so much for humanity, right?”