@article{01JB1E4GNQBRV9YYM3FGDMX9MQ,
  abstract     = {{The environmental impact of drug products is largely determined by activities beyond the direct control of
pharmaceutical companies, such as outsourced production of pharmaceutical building blocks. Therefore, this
study evaluates the environmental impacts of a prostate cancer drug packaged in one blister (declared unit),
thereby analysing the whole value chain to gain insight into 1) the main contributors to the impact of drug
product production and 2) the effect of the geographical location of production of solvents and pharmaceuticals.
The carbon and resource footprints of the entire life cycle of the drug product are determined, using the IPCC
GWP 100 and the Cumulative Exergy Extraction from the Natural Environment methods, respectively. Unlike
many other studies, the impacts of building blocks, called intermediate pharmaceutical ingredients (IPIs), are
modelled based on primary data, literature and similar processes. The carbon footprint per declared unit equals
34 kg CO2-eq, of which IPIs and active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production account for 96 %. The
resource footprint is 647 MJex/declared unit, with IPI and API production accounting for 93 %. The main impact
contributors of these processes are solvents and electricity consumption. Four alternative scenarios for IPI and
API production are developed to evaluate the geographical influence of different production locations of solvents
and pharmaceuticals between Europe and China. European production of solvents and pharmaceuticals appears
to have the lowest carbon and resource footprint. In contrast, Chinese production of solvents and pharmaceuticals increases the carbon footprint by 49 %, while the resource footprint increases by only 4 %, although the natural resource consumption shifts from abiotic renewable resources and nuclear energy to fossil fuels. The high contribution of IPI production and the influence of geography of the supply chain highlight the need for accurate
data from external suppliers to fairly estimate the environmental footprint of drug products.}},
  author       = {{Verlinden, Amelie and Boone, Lieselot and De Soete, Wouter and Dewulf, Jo}},
  issn         = {{2352-5509}},
  journal      = {{SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION}},
  keywords     = {{Sustainability,Life cycle assessment,Pharmaceutical manufacturing,Supply chain,Cradle-to-grave,Resource footprint,Carbon footprint,SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENTS,PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS,CARBON FOOTPRINT,DESIGN}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{1--11}},
  title        = {{Environmental impacts of drug products : the effect of the selection of production sites in the supply chain}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2024.10.016}},
  volume       = {{52}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}

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