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The pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries are eager to strive toward innovative products and technologies. This study first derives hotspots in resource consumption of 2839 Basic Operations in 40 Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient synthesis steps through Exergetic Life Cycle Assessment (ELCA). Second, since companies are increasingly obliged to quantify the environmental sustainability of their products, two alternative ways of simplifying (E)LCA are discussed. The usage of averaged product group values (R(2) = 3.40 × 10(-30)) is compared with multiple linear regression models (R(2) = 8.66 × 10(-01)) in order to estimate resource consumption of synthesis steps. An optimal set of predictor variables is postulated to balance model complexity and embedded information with usability and capability of merging models with existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) data systems. The amount of organic solvents used, molar efficiency, and duration of a synthesis step were shown to be the most significant predictor variables. Including additional predictor variables did not contribute to the predictive power and eventually weakens the model interpretation. Ideally, an organization should be able to derive its environmental impact from readily available ERP data, linking supply chains back to the cradle of resource extraction, excluding the need for an approximation with product group averages.

The large and steadily growing demand for medicines combined with their inherent resource-intensive manufacturing necessitates a relentless push for their sustainable production. Pharmaceutical companies are constantly seeking to perform reliable life cycle assessments of their medicinal products and assess the true value of their sustainable development achievements; however, they find themselves impeded by the lack of a universal metric system that allows for objective quantification of the underlying core denominators. Guided by the unambivalent purpose of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12, which aims at substantially reducing production waste by 2030, and driven by a vision to catalyze greener active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing around the globe, the authors set out to overcome current obstacles by defining an improved model for the metric named innovation green aspiration level, iGAL 2.0. We propose yield and convergence as new key sustainability indicators and include a new formula for convergence with potential applicability in computer assisted synthesis planning (CASP) algorithms. The improved statistical model of iGAL 2.0 represents a valuable extension to the common API process waste metrics, process mass intensity (PMI) and complete E factor (cEF), by putting those measures into perspective: iGAL 2.0 enables determination of relative process greenness (RPG) to identify potentially underperforming and environmentally concerning processes early and thereby deliver environmental value. At the same time, iGAL 2.0 generates economic value since reduced waste correlates to lower API production costs. The metric is complemented by its scorecard companion to highlight the impact of innovation on reductions of API manufacturing waste, enabling scientists to readily communicate the value of their work to their peers, managers, and the general public. We believe that iGAL 2.0 can readily be adopted by pharmaceutical firms around the globe and thereby empower and inspire their scientists to make meaningful and significant contributions to global sustainability.

Up to now, process specific integral resource consumption is barely used as criterion for the selection and improvement of fine chemical and pharmaceutical production processes. Reasons are the complexity of the supply networks in multipurpose plants and the requirement of a detailed data inventory from the production plant itself and from facilities delivering supporting utilities and treating waste streams. In this paper, a methodology is presented to set up integral mass and energy balances of specific production processes in the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industry. This methodology is based on the principle that each chemical production process is a sequence of unit operations in which basic operations at individual equipment take place. These basic operations are considered as the building blocks for all production processes. If the resource consumption of each building block can be quantified, not only at the operation itself but also at the on-site and off-site upstream and downstream processes to sustain the operation, the integral resource requirement of a whole specific production process can be quantified by the summation of the resource requirements of all building blocks involved. This methodology allows the development of a calculation tool for the quantification of the integral resource consumption with minimized data inventory. This tool will enable the selection of the most resource efficient production process and will indicate points of improvement. In this way production processes in pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries can become economically and ecologically more sustainable.