Green & Sustainable Pharma

Green pharmacy is the design of pharmaceutical products and processes that eliminate or reduce significantly the use and generation of hazardous substances and the prevention/reduction of environmental/safety and health impacts at the source. A new pharmaceutical can be green in terms of the quality and quantity of waste generated during its synthesis. Green chemistry was defined by US academics Paul Anastas and John Warner in 1998, who identified 12 principles, including toxicity reduction, biodegradability and energy efficiency, to assess environmental impact. In part, green chemistry is simply an extension of the broader environmental agenda to reduce resource usage and pollution.

Sustainable pharmacy is a totally new issue and approach. It addresses environmental, economical and social aspects of pharmacy. In the present stage the focus will be on environmental issues along the whole lifecycle of a pharmaceutical entity. That is dealing with resources and energy input but also with waste issues for example during the synthesis and production of an Active pharmaceutical Ingredient. Furthermore, it would also look on the compounds themselves and will aim to improve the degradability of the compounds after their use in the environment to reduce the environmental risk caused by pharmaceuticals in the environment. Another issue is the people using pharmaceuticals such as pharmacists, medical doctors and patients. How can they contribute to more efficient use of pharmaceuticals with less environmental burden and less risk for drinking water.

The focus here is on the role of patients, doctors and pharmacists in contributing to green and sustainable pharmacy by proper use of the pharmaceuticals. An environmental classification system for pharmaceuticals as a valuable piece of information for doctors, pharmacists and patients is presented. We also take a look into the future: how will drug consumption develop?

Since green and sustainable pharmacy is still in its infancy, it attempts to identify lack of knowledge and stimulate more activities on the way to sustainable pharmacy rather than to resolve on-going discussions.