Greening the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

Abstract

The pharmaceutical sector is critical from a life-saving perspective. However, it also poses significant environmental challenges due to large consumptions of non-renewable materials and energy, as also extensive by-product and waste generation. Addressing these issues is paramount, though surprisingly, research on it has largely been theoretical, fragmented and incomplete. These shortcomings are sought to be addressed in this work where a comprehensive green supply chain management (GSCM) framework for the sector is first developed through a systematic literature review. It is then empirically assessed and validated for UK's pharmaceutical sector through 47 interviews and analyses of 112 corporate environmental reports that covered all key stakeholders. Innovative and Bio-pharma players were found to be at the forefront of the greening efforts with generic players lagging behind. High levels of solvent recycling, AI-based drug design, and emphasis on Ecopharmacovigilance were observed for the Innovative players. The key drivers for greening were found to be regulatory pressures (e.g., f-gas, ERA, IED) and cost saving potential, with their influence being particularly greater for the Innovative players. Similarly, complex marketing authorization process, high investment requirements, lack of green culture and time pressure were revealed as the key barriers to greening. On the downstream side, lack of environment-related regulatory guidance on prescribing and contradictory regulatory guidance on disposing unused/expired drugs were identified as factors having a significant impact on the environmental loading of drugs. Overall, the study findings can help assess the green readiness of the sector, as also develop stakeholder-specific policy interventions and support mechanisms to increase green adoption.