Chemicals play an essential role in developing and manufacturing medicines. They help deliver life-changing treatments to patients around the world. However, some chemicals can pose risks to human health or the environment if they are not properly managed.
By taking account of the properties of different chemicals during product design, process development and manufacturing, we aim to minimise environmental impacts while continuing to innovate and deliver medicines to patients.
We are working to reduce the environmental impacts associated with chemicals throughout our value chain by:
- Reducing the use of toxic chemicals
- Minimising Pharmaceuticals in the Environment
Our ambitions help us reduce environmental impact, support regulatory compliance and encourage consideration of chemical impacts during the development and manufacture of medicines.
Some chemicals used across the industry can present risks to human health or the environment. Understanding these risks helps inform decisions on chemical selection, use, substitution and handling throughout the value chain.
Pharmaceuticals in the Environment refer to residues of pharmaceutical ingredients that can enter the environment through manufacturing discharge, wastewater streams or patient use.
Some substances are easily biodegradable, while others may persist in ecosystems for longer. Understanding and reducing these impacts is a growing area of focus across the industry.
We have developed a new process for the production of SNAC (Salcaprozate Sodium), a key excipient in our oral GLP-1 products, that replaces the use of toxic chemicals with alternatives. This will reduce its environmental impact, and we are now collaborating with suppliers to implement the new process.
We have also improved the formulation of our oral GLP-1 tablets, enabling us to reduce the content of active pharmaceutical ingredients while maintaining the same efficacy. This has reduced the use of raw materials, including toxic chemicals, required to produce treatments for each patient.
