Inside the Living Lab project

Decarbonising the ‘world’s pharmacy’

India is renowned for the high quality and low cost of its medicines. Its pharmaceutical sector is critically important to the world’s health, supplying 40% of the generic drug demand in the US and 25% of all medicine in the UK, as well as 50% of the world’s demand for various vaccines. 

Indian pharma provides a large proportion of our generic medication and solid oral doses, and it has high levels of technical capability. But like every industry and every country, it faces the challenge of decarbonisation. 

Setting up the Living Lab

CPI is working in partnership with CSIR National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL) and together we aim to collaborate with the Indian pharma sector to support and accelerate decarbonisation by encouraging the development of new and more sustainable processes and technologies. The lab is based within the CSIR-NCL facilities in Pune, India. 

The initial phase of the project involved sharing knowledge and reaching alignment on the principles of decarbonisation we need to follow. To reach net zero, we need to neutralise emissions across Scope 1 – direct emissions, Scope 2 – energy use and Scope 3 – supply chain. 

The Indian pharma sector’s role in UK supply chains means it has an impact on UK Scope 3 emissions, as well as needing to act on its own Scope 1 emissions. Because the NHS has a deadline of 2040 for net zero, there is a strong incentive for Indian pharma companies to keep pace in order to maintain the supplier relationship. The NHS also has a Netzero Plus target of 2045 for emissions it can influence (NHS Carbon Footprint Plus), with an ambition to reach an 80% reduction by 2036 to 2039. India’s own net zero target is 2070, but the commercial dimension is an incentive to act much sooner. 

Leaner, greener chemistry

Chemistry is a huge part of manufacturing APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients) and almost all organic chemicals and solvents come from fossil fuel sources. To mitigate that, there are two main options. One is to move to aqueous chemistry – a water-based system that doesn’t use fossil fuel-based solvents. The other is to do chemistry much more efficiently. Continuous flow chemistry has the potential to be much more efficient than traditional batch methods, and this is the technology we are piloting at the Living Lab. 

Flow chemistry is a method that uses narrow, long pipes instead of vessels to carry out chemical reactions. Solvents and reagents are pumped through the tubing at a controlled rate; they mix efficiently and react as they go. The continuous aspect allows scalable production and given that reaction volumes are much lower it increases mass transfer processes such as heating, cooling, diffusion etc increasing overall control of the process. 

Continuous flow chemistry allows you to run higher-intensity, more concentrated reactions. For example, you can cool heat liquid flowing through a narrow tube very easily. If you are cooling a large exothermic reaction of 5,000 litres in a vessel on the other hand, it takes much more time and energy to cool all of it to the required temperature. 

Another benefit to continuous chemistry is the ease of re-cycling solvents. Better controlled processes means lower level of impurities, solvents can be recovered continuously and feed back into the process and there is no need to hold large inventories of solvent in order to carry out off line recovery steps. 

We can use this technology across the full supply chain, from the raw materials to the early intermediates to the finished API itself. That means we can lower the environmental footprint and reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. The Living Lab continuous flow reactor facility will be suitable for anyone in the pharma supply chain who is carrying out nitration, hydrogenation or Grignard reactions. 

Another technology we’re exploring is a type of solvent-free chemistry called mechanochemistry, where chemicals are physically ground together to make them react. The CSIR-NCL is running lab-scale mechanochemistry equipment that acts like a screw-feeder, combining ingredients under pressure, which has yielded good early results. Removing the need for solvents or water has great potential for reducing environmental impact, and with encouraging results, we hope to commence scaling it up soon. 

Digital proof-of-concept

One of our goals at the Living Lab is to create digital models of the experiments we run, supported by the digital capabilities of our Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre and by our technical partners in India. Digital twins help to de-risk the science; and facilitate in silico experimentation, replacing an overreliance on wet chemistry and acceleration optimisation work needed to pioneer and prove new processes. These models will clearly articulate the financial benefits of continuous flow and drive the business case for change. This is a critical step in the move from pilot-scale trials to widespread adoption at an industrial scale. 

Ultimately, our goal is to produce something of value to the global pharmaceutical industry. The companies participating in the Living Lab are doing so in a corporate social responsibility capacity, because they are contributing to the greater good. It’s akin to health and safety – we do it not for business reasons but because we want to take good care of people and wider society. 

The reception to the project has been so positive – we’ve seen a high level of take-up from pharma companies of all sizes that are keen to access the lab to progress their projects. There is already a lot of excitement for the Living Lab and its future potential, and we’ve only just begun.