Towards a Net Zero, socially sustainable and eco-efficient biopharma industry: how far are we?

Clinical advances in the space of next-generation vaccines and medicines, together with the advent of platform technologies, have revolutionised the modus operandi of the biopharmaceutical industry. The industry’s core mission for uninterrupted delivery of high-quality, efficacious drugs is now further challenged by bold and necessary targets to operate sustainably. In this paper, we discuss how threefold sustainability that integrates economic, environmental, and social objectives can be achieved through a combination of technological advances, expert knowledge and transparent dialogue. We summarise recent advances in biomanufacturing in terms of novel technologies, intracellular and process-level analytics, and computational models before providing an outlook on how Industry 5.0 principles can be adopted and applied to advance industrial practice.