Accelerating Impact: Harnessing Biopharma’s tools and talent for a more sustainable future

Sustainability in Biopharma

What are the key sustainability challenges the biopharma sector currently faces, particularly in manufacturing and development?

An industry report from 2022 stated that “The Global Pharmaceutical industry still has some way to go before it will shake its reputation for having a much higher, by more than 50%, GHG emissions intensity (CO2 per $ Revenue) than the automotive sector and as a sector we are contributing to almost 5% of the world’s global GHG emissions”. What are the reasons for this poor response? The same industry report stated that it was due to Lack of Sustainability Investment (38%), Lack of Strategy for effective sustainability impact (28%), Lack of Management Buy-in (18%) and Lack of effective sustainability targets (16%). 

Has the sector woken up to this reality? In my opinion, it has not and is still lagging other sectors in driving change. Other sectors call us “Fat Pharma” meaning that our profit margins are so large that there is no real burning platform for companies to make the necessary change at the pace required. Our processes are still not designed or optimised with a green sustainability lens, so we are still using too many hazardous solvents, have too many process steps, challenges with single-use consumables, have too much waste, too much packaging and limited digital solutions to our operation. 

I believe that we can do more. We have a huge opportunity to reverse these issues above and make a significant positive impact on our sector and planet. We have an incredible purpose, as a sector that creates medicines that will save patients' lives… we have the opportunity to develop green & sustainable processes to become the most sustainable sector globally.

Leveraging Biopharma’s Capabilities

Could you share examples where innovative tools or strategies have helped accelerate sustainable practices within your company or the sector?

The Biopharma sector has been particularly slow in implementing innovative tools, most noticeably digital or automated solutions. We have all heard talk of how PAT would significantly improve our processes. That was 20 years ago and we are still discussing it. We have heard talk of lights-out facilities, yet in reality, it is still a concept.

The Role of Talent in Driving Change

How critical is the role of talent and leadership in promoting sustainability initiatives within biopharma?

In APC & VLE Therapeutics, we launched our Culture @ Cherrywood programme in 2022 and as part of this, one of the key pillars was our Be Green @ Cherrywood pillar. The culture programme was designed to ensure a bottoms-up staff led model but critically aligned to the business strategy with the Senior Leadership Team. The Be Green team developed a team structure, a charter, defining a vision to be the ‘greenest, most sustainable Irish BioPharma Company’, and aligning to our internal governance processes – most critically, reporting to the SLT on a quarterly basis and to our board on an annual basis. This means that the commitments made have full buy-in from the board level and leadership.

As part of the development of this pillar, it was clear that the talent needed to implement sustainability practices, initiatives and leadership are not the same as we have traditionally focused on within the industry. For example, we have since implemented a Sustainability Lead (who has had to train up on new skillsets, not part of current science or engineering academic education). We have supported one of our Be Green team to complete a GradDip in Carbon Accounting and Lifecycle Assessment (NFQ Level 9) from UCD allowing her to calculate our company’s Scope 3 emissions via the course (again, not part of her original science education). We have focused a few of our engineering interns to upskill on green processing to develop ways where we can improve clients’ processes with a sustainability lens. There is a definite gap in current college courses which need to be updated to include skills required to support sustainability improvements. 

Finally, as we look to attract & retain new talent into our business, being a company with a strong focus on sustainability is a positive attraction factor for them to join us. It is so important that we improve the skillset development in colleges to provide graduates with the capabilities to help influence Ireland’s ability to be leaders in BioPharma sustainability in the years ahead.

Collaborative Models for Sustainability

What role do partnerships and collaborations (e.g., with tech companies or academic institutions) play in accelerating sustainability within biopharma?

Navigating the challenges with sustainability in the BioPharma sector is difficult for most companies and actually doing something about it is even more difficult. As an SME without the scale of larger companies, we knew that collaborating with external partners was critical to set us on the right path. For example, becoming aware of the immense task involved in calculating & reporting Scope 3 emissions was blind to us prior to engaging with this partner. 

We made the decision early, to engage with a sustainability consultancy company, and it has paid huge dividends. They performed a deep dive into our policies, procedures, our data, our Be Green strategy & initiatives, etc. As a result, they developed a scorecard to show where we stood from a sustainability perspective based on their knowledge of other global companies.

Balancing Innovation and Sustainability

How can biopharma companies balance the need for rapid innovation with long-term sustainability goals?

I believe that, as a sector, we can do more. By taking sustainability seriously, our sector can be a leader in:

• Increasing renewable energy sources 
• Reducing Process Waste 
• Implementing greener chemical processes 
• Conserving water in manufacturing processes
• Increase Energy-efficient manufacturing 
• Introduce Eco-friendly packaging materials

If our sector focused its innovation energy on green & sustainability objectives such as green processing, digital packaging and waste stream improvements, then we can both improve the process profile, the cost impact and as a result ensure long-term sustainability.

Looking Ahead

What trends or innovations do you believe will have the biggest impact on biopharma’s sustainability journey in the next decade?

For example, our initial assessment of the synthetic/small molecule space is that there is huge opportunity for green process improvements. We analysed 77 solvents to calculate the ‘greenness’ across 19 different criteria. We found that a huge number fell into the yellow or red category but as a result, identified good ‘green’ solvents which could be used to update processes with. 

We also looked at waste streams and how to implement innovative approaches such as direct solvent recycling methods. 

As a partner to more than 50 Global BioPharma companies, we are now working with them to promote sustainable process development. For example, we worked with a client who were producing a large quantity of process waste leading to huge incineration costs as a result. We completed a 2-phase improvement project where we moved their process to a green solvent and implemented a direct solvent recycling method. It resulted in a reduction of 46% in their solvent waste and saved them ~€750k in incineration costs annually. 

As I said throughout, our sector has the most impactful ability to change people’s lives and has the tools and expertise to make this happen. I believe we can do more!