Sustainable Procurement & CSR News - Pharmaceutical Industry

For a pharma company selling respiratory drugs, climate change would probably mean more patients and increased sales. But AstraZeneca has committed to contributing its fair share to stop that trend.
Just as the topic of climate change takes center stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, AstraZeneca unveiled its Ambition Zero Carbon program, which aims to achieve zero carbon emissions from its global operations by 2025.

Sanofi's new manufacturing plant in Framingham, Massachusetts, will produce 80% less carbon dioxide emissions compared to the company's first-generation facility and will reduce water and chemical usage by 91% and 94%, respectively, according to details released by the company.​

A solar power operation in North Carolina the size of 500 football fields has become key to Novo Nordisk’s effort to cut the cord for traditional energy sources. The company says its investment in the operation means that by 2020 it will be able to power all of its U.S. production with renewable electricity sources. The company, which already is lauded for its social responsibility, says it has more in store. Novo has set a new aggressive target to ease its impact as a company on the environment. It plans to achieve zero CO2 emissions (PDF) from all operations and transportation by 2030 using its “Circular for Zero” environmental strategy.

Albertsons pharmacies are swapping white for brown as they transition from traditional white prescription bags to a new recycled brown bag at 1,700+ locations across the United States. The switch to a more sustainable bag is expected to save more than 5,000 trees annually. Made with 100% recycled content, the new bags include 60% post-consumer recycled content, making Albertsons Companies the first major pharmacy chain to offer this type of bag, the company said.

ACG Capsules (ACGC) – part of ACG Group, which offers end-to-end manufacturing solutions for the pharmaceutical industry – has introduced a new line of HPMC capsules meeting a wide variety of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical needs.
The new ACGcaps™ H+ capsule with no gelling agent is suitable for hygroscopic and moisture-sensitive formulations. It also meets consumer demands for clean label and vegetarian capsule options.  

Open dialogue and transparency in medicines pricing are imperative to ensure fair pricing for consumers, continued access to new medicines and the sustainability of the European healthcare systems. This was the message conveyed by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health Chris Fearne during meetings held in Brussels with representatives of the pharmaceutical industries and European Consumer Organisations.

The pharmaceutical packaging industry has undergone noteworthy developments over the past couple of years, with the introduction of new packaging solutions. Pharmaceutical packaging offerings such as pharmaceutical plastic bottles are gaining major adoption across the sector. There are rigid packaging solutions for the protected and safe storage of pharmaceutical products. The materials utilized for manufacturing pharmaceutical plastic bottles are considered carefully in an attempt to provide superior protection for medicines.

The CalaMarine, CodMarine and LipidMarine omega-3 product lines manufactured by Norwegian company Pharma Marine AS have been re-certified according to the Friend of the Sea sustainability standard. CalaMarine is produced from trimmings of squid left over from food production, while the crude cod oil used to make CodMarine is from onboard factory trawlers fishing in the Barents Sea. LipidMarine is made from sustainable anchovy and sardine biomass.  

Product safety is a multifaceted issue for any retailer dealing with the pharmacy and prescriptions, and the systems that are in place to protect the quality and integrity of the goods offered constantly are evolving to strengthen the industry’s defenses. One of the key loopholes between consumers and the dangers of unsafe products, however, is the potential for the introduction of items from other countries that fail to meet the rigorous safety standards of the United States.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart will be helping the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) test the effectiveness of a leading-edge technology in tracking and tracing prescription medicines and vaccines distributed within the U.S.

Investment in vast solar installation will enable Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk to meet its 2020 renewable energy goals.

Italy-based Bormioli Pharma has announced what it calls the 'first sustainable plastic packaging solutions for the pharmaceutical industry'. The company says this represents a breakthrough in a traditionally conservative and highly regulated industry.

Drug serialization management has become an irreversible development trend. In the entire supply chain of the product, the details of the source and destination of the raw materials, the direction of sales, etc., are recorded and marked on the packaging of all levels of the drug in an appropriate manner.

A new report from one of the globe’s most prestigious medical journals says Canada’s health-care sector produces the third-highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions in the world.

The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change’s annual report for 2019, published Wednesday, claims that the global health-care sector is responsible for approximately 4.6 per cent of total emissions, with emissions from the U.S. “substantially higher than those of any other country and have risen steadily” over the study period of 2007 to 2016, driving up some 19 per cent.

Another drugmaker from Europe, where governments are concerned about the effects of climate change, has achieved an aggressive goal to walk more softly on the earth. Vetter says from this point forward, all of its nine German sites will be powered by CO2 neutral energy from certified renewable energy sources. The Ravensburg, Germany-based CDMO, which says sustainability is a pillar of its corporate credo, has four manufacturing sites in Germany, as well as a site for visual inspection and logistics and four administrative facilities.  

Big Pharma has bitterly fought against being forced to pay for drug recycling, but another part of the industry has taken it up: pharmacies. Now, in a move to make it easier for consumers to dump unused meds, pharmacy chain Rite Aid has partnered with Google to have their recycling stations easily searchable.  More than 550 medication disposal units across the country nation are now searchable on Google Maps using a computer or mobile device, Rite Aid announced Wednesday. Users can type or say “medication disposal near me,” and the software will show the closest locations.

Romaco’s Push Packs, made from recyclable polyolefin laminate, are the ‘first ever’ recyclable unit dose packaging for solid drug products, according to the company. The unit dose strip packaging foil was developed by the German processing equipment company Romaco, in collaboration with the Finish packaging company, Huhtamaki, “as a joint step towards more sustainable pharmaceutical packaging,”​ the companies stated. For the packaging to be produced, Huhtamaki’s foil, which has a recyclable rate of more than 70%, is processed into four-sided sealed strips with a push-through function using Romaco’s heat-sealing technology.

Given the negative image that sometimes surrounds the pharmaceutical industry, drug companies have plenty of scope to improve their social sustainability. 
By building its reputation and gaining the trust of more stakeholders, the industry can achieve commercial advantages.
While social sustainability is desirable, the research and development of innovative products remains the most critical business activity for drug companies.

Rarely does mention of the pharmaceutical industry conjure up images of smoke stacks, pollution and environmental damage. Yet our recent study found the global pharmaceutical industry is not only a significant contributor to global warming, but it is also dirtier than the global automotive production sector.

Merck - through its life sciences business – has launched its SMASH Packaging Plan to match previous efforts in improving product sustainability. With a deadline of 2022, Merck is targeting four aspects of packaging to reduce the amount of packaging it uses; achieve zero deforestation; improve plastic sustainability and maximise recycling. Considering the company ships 30,000 packages each day, not to mention the complexity of the pharma supply chain, it’s an almost unfathomable task, but one that is necessary in an era in which environmental concerns are becoming more widespread. 

Counterfeiting is a huge concern for the pharmaceuticals industry, with an estimated one in 10 medical products circulating in low and middle income countries (LMICs) falsified, according to the World Health Organisation.

ACT is the first environmental impact factor label for laboratory products, developed by the non-profit My Green Lab. ACT—which stands for accountability, consistency, and transparency—is designed to provide critical information on the environmental impact of laboratory products.