Green pharmaceuticals projects meeting – 10 December 2024 at the EC in Brussels
🌱 A Vision for a Greener Future in Pharmaceuticals 🌍
On 10th December morning, the DG RTD premises in Brussels became the backdrop for an inspiring gathering. Five groundbreaking EU-funded projects (ENVIROMED, IMPACTIVE, ETERNAL, SUSPHARMA, TRANSPHARM), united by a shared mission to transform pharmaceutical manufacturing into a more sustainable endeavour, came together to collaborate, share ideas, and spark new possibilities.
This informal “green pharmaceuticals” cluster marked a significant milestone in the journey toward environmentally friendly pharma practices.
As the day began, Irene Norstedt, Director of DG RTD, set the tone with her opening remarks, framing the challenge ahead. The morning sessions featured insightful presentations from Momir Radulović (Slovenian Agency for Medicinal Products) and Sofie Norager (DG RTD), culminating in a lively Q&A that brought fresh perspectives from the audience.
Each project took the stage, sharing its unique progress, challenges, and aspirations. Together, their voices painted a hopeful picture of a pharmaceutical industry ready to embrace sustainability by design.
The highlight of the morning was a thought-provoking panel discussion led by Carmen Laplaza (DG RTD). Experts like Evelina Colacino (IMPACTIVE project), Kirsty Reid (Director for Science Policy at EFPIA), and representatives from DG Environment, DG GROW, and the Slovenian Agency for Medicinal Products dove into critical topics such as:
✅ How do we harmonize standards for sustainability?
✅ What role can renewable resources and biodegradable compounds play?
✅ How do we align policies and approval processes to accelerate the change?
The discussion also raised pressing questions:
❓ How do we accelerate results and move to industrialization?
❓How to find a smart solution how to use an existing data?
❓ Are end users ready for greener pharmaceuticals?
❓ Can innovative technologies truly transform green pharma manufacturing?
❓ How do we ensure society benefits from this green transition?
❓ What are the costs, and where can we find additional sources of decarbonization?
After a morning of dynamic dialogue, the afternoon sessions took a focused approach, with strategic meetings involving EMA and EFPIA and working groups diving deeper into action plans.
By the end of the day, it was clear: this gathering wasn’t just about sharing progress—it was about uniting a community around a vision. A vision of pharmaceuticals that are safe, effective, and sustainable.
This is just the beginning of an exciting journey. Together, with collaboration, innovation, and determination, we can make a real impact.
A brochure is made for this collaboration and can be found here.
Brochure_Pharma_Projects_final.pdf
Video's were made during the meeting with the EC and the sister projects
Three questions were raised
- To Christian Stevens, UGent, coordinator: "How does the project cluster contribute to greening pharmaceutical production in Europe?"
- To Caroline Moermond, RIVM, WP5: "What are the challenges of the business case for greener pharmaceuticals in Europe?"
- To Lieslot Boone, UGent, WP4: "What are the challenges when assessing the life cycle of pharmaceuticals?"
and the dedicated answers can be found in the links of the videos.
Workshop “Advancing Green Chemistry Technologies”: 11 December 2024, Ghent
The Workshop “Advancing Green Chemistry Technologies” had the aim
- To discuss the green technologies of biobased fine chemicals and APIs.
- To facilitate proactive engagement and collaboration among industrial and academic partners.
- To foster interactive information exchange, raise awareness, and showcase successful applications of green chemistry methodologies.
- To map developments with a focus on sustainability, circularity, and carbon footprint reduction.
The programme and abstract book can be found here.
An overview of some pictures taken during the event can be found here.
GA meeting 30M: 12-13 December 2024 - Remote
The consortium meeting took place online on 12 December 2024 in the afternoon and 13 December 2024 in the morning. The entire consortium had scientific discussions on the technical work packages. Also 2 workshop sessions about the case studies (T4.5 and T5.4) and the training activities were held. The , as 2 parallel discussion sessions about electrochemistry and the education module for the health sector. Also the PHARMECO project (IHI-call) presented his project to our consortium.
GA meeting 24M: 4-5 July 2024 - Dublin
The consortium partners and 1 advisory board member were present in Dublin for our 24M GA meeting. Also 1 advisory board member followed the meeting online.
The first day was dedicated to the technical work packages in presence of the advisory board members. Also 2 external persons from Ireland pitched their companies: Gaia Scalabrino from NatPro and Cathy Keenan from BiOrbic. After this speed networking, the first day ended with a marvellous and memorable social event (offered by the KelAda).
The second day, a session was held to discuss the design of API’s for ecotoxicity, bioaccumulation and (bio)degradation. Next, the progress of the training activities and future workshops was elaborated.
Pharma Pollution Hub
A new independent initiative to drive societal-wide change
The Pharma Pollution Hub is a new think tank based in the UK that is dedicated to finding solutions to reduce the environmental impacts of pharmaceutical pollution through a systems-based, social innovation approach. As an independent body, it brings together stakeholders from across industry, government, academia, and the civil sector, to collectively understand the broader social, economic, cultural, and political drivers of pharmaceutical usage, and co-develop strategies for meaningful and pragmatic societal-wide change.
Read more using the link below.
TransPharm_Pharma_Pollution_Hub.pdf
Green Pharma Cluster
The new cluster of R&D projects aims to increase the sustainability of pharmaceutical products and exploit research synergies to boost the impact of its innovations.
Three working groups have been created: active pharmaceutical ingredient synthesis, pharmaceutical life cycle assessment and communication of key messages.
Read more using the link below.
TransPharm_Green_Pharma_Cluster.pdf
Newsletter Nº 02
Download our second newsletter using the link below.
GA meeting 18M: 22 & 23 November 2023
The consortium meeting took place online on 22 November 2023 in the morning and 23 November 2023 in the afternoon. The entire consortium had scientific discussions on the technical work packages. Also 2 workshop sessions about the stakeholder perspectives and the training activities were held, as 2 parallel discussion sessions about electrochemistry and the education module for the health sector.
Newsletter Nº 01
Download our first newsletter using the link below.
GA meeting 12M: 15/16 June 2023 - Helsinki
41 participants (consortium partners and 1 advisory board member) were present in Helsinki for our 12M GA meeting. Also 9 persons (consortium partners and advisory board members) followed the meeting online.
The first day, Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma from Helsinki University welcomed us in Helsinki.
Christian Stevens, from Ghent University, acting as Project coordinator, welcomed the participants dedicated to open discussion on project related topics. Christian Stevens reminded the project objectives and presented an overview of the first-year results of the project.
Thereafter, the future work of the new Hop On partner LIOS was presented to the consortium followed by the project management of the project. Next, the training activities were elaborated, followed by the interactions between different work packages in some parallel sessions.
After the delicious lunch, the possible cooperation with the sister projects was further discussed. Afterwards, the definitions of sustainability and trade-offs were looked at. The day was ended with an update of the development of biodegradable compounds. Afterwards, we had a lovely city tour in the beautiful Helsinki followed by an exquisite diner (offered by the University of Helsinki).
The second day was dedicated to the technical work packages in presence of the advisory board members.
The meeting ended with the opinions of the members of the advisory board. They found the meeting very useful and interesting and they are looking forward to further collaborations. The consortium looks forward to continue in this good direction!
Meeting of sister projects: 5 April 2023
On 5 April 2023, the sister projects of the call HORIZON HLTH 2021 IND 07 01 (TRANSPHARM, SUSPHARMA, ETERNAL & IMPACTIVE) have met at the PREMIER/TransPharm workshop.
We are looking forward to work together in the coming years.
PREMIER and TransPharm workshop: 4-6 April 2023 - Nijmegen
The PREMIER and TransPharm workshop: The transition towards sustainable pharmaceuticals – assessing sustainability, from design & production to prescription & use will take place on 4-6 April 2023 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. More info can be found in this link.
Scientific Advisory Board meeting: 17 March 2023
We had a first meeting with the advisory board members (HCWH, Efpia, SHC, Takeda, Janssen and Boehringer) to introduce them the project and to discuss their role into this project. Looking forward to a fruitful cooperation and aiming for a next interesting meeting at the 12M GA meeting in Helsinki.
GA meeting 6M: 12 December 2022
The consortium meeting took place online on 12 December 2022. The entire consortium had scientific discussions on the technical work packages. Also 2 brainstorms were held about the training activities and the first workshop.
Kick-off meeting: 5/6 September 2022
The TransPharm project kick-off meeting was held in ‘het Pand’, the congress center at Ghent University, on September 5th and 6th, 2022.
39 participants from the consortium partners as well as the project officer from the European Commission (online) were present. The coordinator started the meeting by sketching a brief history of previous cooperations leading to the present one. This background nicely demonstrated the logic behind the development of this project. Thereafter, the project objectives were presented followed by the partner introductions. The day was ended with some brief information from the Project Officer about Horizon Europe and the Commision's expections, and a presentation on the project management and administrative obligations.
The second day started with dedicated breakout sessions for each technical work package (overview and organisation, contribution to project KPIs, main milestones and deliverables, interactions with other WPs, roadmap for next 6 month) by the work package leaders.
The meeting ended with a workshop about the role of the advisory board.
The consortium looks forward towards a fruitful collaboration in the period 2022-2026 and beyond!