An investigation of the potential for and application of life cycle analysis in the pharmaceutical industry

Life cycle assessment offers a unique opportunity to analyze emission reductions across all manufacturing sectors. However, few efforts have been made to apply this method to the pharmaceutical industry. The Toxic Release Inventory is a powerful tool to determine areas of high potential for emissions reductions in industry. When applied to the pharmaceutical industry and coupled with a life cycle assessment, areas for significant environmental improvement become apparent. By examining these trends and exploring a variety of emissions reductions techniques, life cycle emissions in these problem areas may be significantly reduced. These trends demonstrate that manufacture of virgin solvent and solvent waste management contribute significantly more life cycle emissions than comparable processes for commodity chemicals, with the majority of this waste consisting of CO2 and other green house gas emissions. Typically, between 80 and 90% of the total mass used in the production of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) may be attributed to solvent use. Four case studies from Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Novartis are examined. In these cases, solvent recovery and reduction techniques are integrated into API syntheses. It is shown that the actual extent of the environmental footprint reduction can only be realized with a full life cycle analysis