Environmental considerations along the life cycle of pharmaceuticals: Interview study on views regarding environmental challenges, concerns, strategies, and prospects within the pharmaceutical industry

Eur J Pharm Sci. 2024 Mar 7:106743. doi: 10.1016/j.ejps.2024.106743. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTEnvironmental impacts of medicines arise throughout their entire life cycle. The pharmaceutical industry has a key role in reducing these impacts in early production phases, but currently has limited possibilities to reduce the environmental exposure arising from drug consumption and end-of-life. The aim of this interview study was to explore the current environmental actions within the industry, as well as the views and attitudes toward the strategies to address the environmental challenges and concerns. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among representatives (n=15) from twelve pharmaceutical companies operating in Finland in February-May 2021. The data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The representatives of pharmaceutical industry were overall well aware of the multifaceted environmental challenges related to the life cycle of pharmaceuticals and of their role in improving sustainability in production. Improving waste management and reducing impacts from companies' own operations were the most commonly mentioned actions already taking place within the companies (15/15). "Environmental impacts arising from drug consumption" (6/15) and "centralized drug manufacturing in countries with lax environmental regulation" (4/15) were most frequently brought up challenges difficult to resolve. "Development of environmentally more sustainable drug production in th...
Source: European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Source Type: research