‘Industry Should Use Best Global Practices’
Excerpts:
UN Environment identifies growing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) linked to discharge of drugs into the environment as one of the most worrying health threats. Is it a real threat?
A: A recent report by Nordea and Changing Markets Foundation highlights the impact of pollution from pharmaceutical production sites. The report substantiates that unregulated industrial waste increases cases of antibiotic resistance, a serious public health threat today. To successfully tackle pharmaceutical supply chain impacts, whether social or environmental, the report recommends improving transparency, adopting good manufacturing practices and eliminating illegal waste dumping by addressing issues of insufficient regulations, lax implementation and lack of accountability. That is the way forward.
Are there pharma industry initiatives vis-à-vis technological solutions?
Pharmaceutical production is a massive responsibility, as life-saving properties of medicines must be preserved for current and future generations by responsibly curbing environmental emissions and using good manufacturing practices. Signing the UN General Assembly Roadmap in 2016, 13 pharmaceutical companies have collectively pledged to reduce the hazardous environmental impact of antibiotic manufacturing by 2020. This is important.
What initiatives have the industry taken so far?
Some signatories have started improving their supply chains and manufacturing/waste treatment processes using sustainable practices, green enzymatic technology and state-of-the-art treatment plants. They are actively sharing their knowledge, expertise and experience to develop a common framework for managing antibiotic discharge and are committed to applying it across their internal manufacturing and supply chains by the end of 2018. These will be important benchmarks for the industry to highlight that clean production technologies will require initial investment but are actually economical in the long run.
What will be the long-term goal of the industry?
Gradually, the goal is towards sustainable sourcing of antibiotics, dedicated effluent treatment plants and conducting antimicrobial activity tests periodically to ensure clean disposal of waste. Industry should use the best global practices. As a follow-up to the Roadmap, the AMR Industry Alliance was set up in May 2017, bringing biotech, diagnostic, generic pharmaceutical companies and associations together to proactively work on developing science-based standards for minimum residue limits for antibiotics in effluents.
Is responsible business also sustainable?
Antibiotics are critical to sustain the industry, because if they stop working due to growing resistance, businesses will fail and healthcare will come to a standstill.
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