Towards a more sustainable European pharmaceutical production of APIs

Pharmaceuticals comprise a wide variety of chemical compounds designed to guarantee safe and effective therapies. The active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are those that deliver the beneficial health effects experienced by patients. The goal of the EU-funded TransPharm project is to develop more sustainable and greener APIs that simultaneously reduce the environmental footprint and the dependence on third countries for API production. TransPharm will deliver digital tools and guidelines based on artificial intelligence for the development of greener pharmaceutical products and APIs, as well as models to judge their impact. The result will be a more independent and competitive European pharmaceutical industry, which can ensure the timely delivery of sustainable and green therapeutics to its citizens. TransPharm two-track approach focusses on the one hand on the compounds itself by identifying greener and more sustainable-by-design Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and on the other hand reducing the environmental impact and resilience of the manufacturing process by optimizing the synthesis route of new APIs in continuous flow and by proposing greener alternative solvents.
The aim of the project is to (i) analyse and predict flow behaviour and environmental biodegradability of APIs and their synthesis pathways; (ii) identify greener and more sustainable alternatives to pharmaceutical products / APIs of concern; (iii) reduce the footprint and create important shortcuts in synthetic schemes of APIs; and (iv) assess the sustainability of pharmaceuticals over their entire life cycle. To reach the envisaged aims, the project will deliver four toolboxes (consisting of digital tools and guidelines) for the development of greener pharmaceutical products and APIs. These toolboxes will be used to (v) assess the potential to move towards the transition to greener, more agile pharmaceutical production. In addition, TransPharm will elaborate on the business case for sustainable pharmaceutical products or APIs and what is needed to bring them to the market. The project will also make sure that (vi) key project results and knowledge are properly transferred towards targeted stakeholders.
TransPharm?s outcome contribute to a Europe, that is self-sufficient by reducing dependence on API production in third countries; making the EU healthcare industry more competitive, sustainable and reliable, ensuring timely supply of essential medicines from particularly complex or critical supply and distribution chains and positioning EU as a leader in innovative technologies.