Approaches to developing environmentally friendly medicines have long been discussed in the scientific literature, primarily focusing on (readily) biodegradable active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). In 2022, the GREENER concept highlighted the importance of safe and effective medicines while expanding the range of environmental criteria.
There has been limited adoption of environmental criteria in drug discovery to date. The design criteria for pharmaceuticals (ensuring target potency, selectivity, ADME balance, pharmacokinetics, etc.) are highly complex and additional criteria raise concerns about R&D success. Furthermore, environmental scientists often lack a deep understanding of R&D, while medicinal chemists may be unaware of the determinants of API environmental risks.
Recognizing this gap, environmental experts and medicinal chemists from academia, industry, and regulatory bodies, collaborating under the IMI PREMIER project, authored the Greener Drug Design Report and developed a holistic concept of how drug design criteria inadvertently influence the environmental properties of APIs.
The report aims to foster cross-disciplinary understanding, identify barriers to implementation, and propose ways to incorporate environmental criteria into pharmaceutical R&D.

We will share learnings on:
The alignment between environmental persistence and existing R&D criteria (e.g., abiotic and physiological stability, physico-chemical properties).
Challenges and opportunities to integrate environmental (bio)degradability criteria into testing cascades and candidate selection in pharmaceutical R&D.
Technical challenges involved in adapting predictive tools and screening/testing methods for biodegradability to be used in R&D.

Alison Nimrod Perkins

Appearances