Benchmarking green chemistry adoption by the Indian pharmaceutical supply chain

ABSTRACT

This paper provides the first benchmarking study of green chemistry (GC) adoption by the Indian pharmaceutical supply chain based on information from industry representatives leading such efforts. Results demonstrate that generic drug pharma and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) manufacturers in India exhibit significant interest and some advances in using GC principles. At the same time, majority (65%) of Indian companies rely on treatment and disposal of waste water instead of source reduction and one in five (20%) does not use any GC metrics. The study found that generic pharma is more advanced in adopting GC principles than API manufacturers. Regulatory risk and time pressures to deliver drugs were reported as the two most significant barriers for greater adoption of GC in India, while cost savings and environmental regulations were cited as the top two drivers. The paper concludes with some recommendations for advancing GC adoption in India.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Green chemistry
• sustainability
• Indian pharmaceutical industry
• pharma supply chain
• environmental pollution in India
• benchmarking

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr. Vesela R. Veleva is a faculty member in the Department of Management and the Center for Sustainable Enterprise and Regional Competitiveness (SERC) at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She also serves as Director of the MBA Program and Interim Director of the Healthcare Management Program at the College of Management, UMass Boston. Her research focuses on the circular economy, green chemistry, industrial ecology, environmental health and corporate social responsibility. She has published in peer reviewed journals including the Journal of Cleaner Production, Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, Greener Management International, Corporate Environmental Strategy, and Benchmarking: An International Journal. She has published several teaching cases and a book - “Business, Environment and Society: Themes and Cases” (Baywood Publishing Co., 2014). Dr. Veleva has a doctorate in Cleaner Production and Pollution Prevention from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, an M.S. in Pollution & Environmental Control from the University of Manchester UK, and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Varna, Bulgaria.

Dr. Berkeley W. Cue consults for pharmaceutical and technology companies through BWC Pharma Consulting, LLC. While he was at Pfizer (1975-2004) he was responsible for Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Groton, Connecticut R&D center. He was a member of the site leadership team and the Global Pharmaceutical Sciences Executive Team. He created and led Pfizer’s worldwide green chemistry efforts until he retired, after almost 29 years. From 2004, he was first a governing board member then the chair of the governing board of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute, where he helped found and led their Pharmaceutical Roundtable. He also was an advisor and founding member of the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council (GC3). He has given over 150 presentations on green chemistry and sustainability, published nearly two dozen peer reviewed articles and holds almost twenty patents. With Professor Wei Zhang at UMass-Boston he edited two green chemistry texts, “Green Techniques for Organic Synthesis and Medicinal Chemistry,” published by Wiley in June 2012, and the second edition in 2018. At UMass Boston he is an adjunct professor in the chemistry department, a member of advisory boards for their College of Science and Mathematics and the College of Management’s Center for Sustainable Enterprise and Regional Competiveness (SERC). In 2013 he received EPA Region 1’s Lifetime Environmental Merit Award. Dr. Cue graduated with a BA in Chemistry from UMass Boston in 1969 and earned his PhD from the University of Alabama.

Dr. Svetlana Todorova is a visiting lecturer in Business Statistics at the D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts. In addition, she is a chief assistant professor in Statistics at Varna University of Economics, Bulgaria. Dr. Todorova’s research interests are highly interdisciplinary. Her research focuses on the applications of statistics in the fields of business, economics, education, and most recently sustainability, “zero waste”, and green chemistry. She is an author and coauthor of over 30 publications, including monographs, book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles, and papers presented at various international conferences. She holds a B.S. in Socio-Economic Information and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Statistics, all from Varna University of Economics, Bulgaria.

Mr. Harshrajsinh Thakor is an Environmental Engineer for the State of Massachusetts in the Department of Environmental Protection. Presently he is pursuing his MBA at the University of Massachusetts Boston with specialization in Environmental Management. He has published a book chapter in ACS Emerging Micro-Pollutants in the Environment: Occurrence, Fate, and Distribution and has co-authored an article in peer reviewed journal, Journal of Nanoparticle Research. He holds a B.E in Civil Engineering from the University of Pune, India, and a M.S in Environmental Engineering from University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA.

Nitesh H. Mehta is founding director of Newreka Green Synth Technologies Pvt. Ltd., based in India. He holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, IIT-Bombay, and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pune. His expertise is in process development, scale-up and technology implementation at commercial scales. His professional experience includes implementing more than 500 commercial batches with Newreka Reduction Technology, in more than 25 different products. Currently, his key focus involves marketing Newreka’s knowledge-based Green Chemistry technologies in Indian and international markets. Nitesh Mehta is also the co-founder of Green ChemisTree Foundation and convener of Industrial Green Chemistry World (IGCW), a not-for-profit initiative launched in 2009, with the commitment to promote and advance the implementation of Green Chemistry in India.

Krishna B. Padia is Executive Director of Green ChemisTree Foundation. She has a Master’s degree in Environment & Ecology and has extensive experience working in the social sector, specifically in environmental conservation and related activities. Ms. Padia is associated with Green ChemisTree Foundation since its inception in 2008. She is responsible for the overall execution of Foundation’s activities and expanding the awareness of Green Chemistry & Green Engineering amongst chemical communities (both industry and non-industry). She is also on the Advisory Board of an NGO working on environmental rehabilitation project in the Tribal villages of Palghar District, Maharashtra.

Notes

1 Typical catalysis often includes rare earth metals such as palladium which are not only costly but present a range of sociopolitical risks as supply is controlled by South Africa, Russia and China.

2 Newreka is a knowledge-based company involved in developing, customizing and commercializing green chemistry-based technologies for the Indian chemical industry. It is headquartered in Mumbai and has three R&D laboratories in Western India. Green ChemisTree Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Newreka, dedicated to promoting and advancing green chemistry in India. Its flagship initiative is the Industrial Green Chemistry World (IGCW), which brings together a variety of stakeholders from industry, government, academia and consultancies to expand the awareness and technical capabilities in the area of green chemistry and engineering (GC&E). For more information see: www.industrialgreenchem.com.