UK-India partnership launches ‘’Living Laboratory’’ to boost pharma industry decarbonisation

Leaders from the Indian and UK diplomatic and pharmaceutical sectors attended the opening of a ​‘Living Lab’ in Pune, India today. The new state-of-the art facility has been designed to allow pharmaceutical companies to explore and de-risk advanced manufacturing technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support the pharmaceutical industry’s move towards net zero targets. 

The laboratory is a joint venture between CPI in the UK and CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory in India. CPI — a deep tech innovation organisation and a founding member of the Innovate UK Catapult Network that assists companies and researchers to take promising technologies from the lab-bench towards scale-up and commercialisation — led the UK efforts in this joint venture, which is supported through funding from the UK Government. The CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory led the India efforts in this joint venture, which is also supported through funding from Indian Government and industry partners. CSIR-NCL is a leading research, development and consulting organization conducts application oriented and focused basic research in chemical and allied sciences and engineering. 

This first-of-its-kind partnership between CPI and NCL is set up to make data and processes available to all partners, allowing them to build on insights to more readily develop and commercialise less energy-intensive and efficient manufacturing processes.

Several pharmaceutical companies have already joined the partnership, including Sun Pharma, Aarti Industries, Alivus Life Sciences, USV, Anthem Biosciences, Corning and GMM-Pfaudler. These companies will work together with CPI and CSIR-NCL to create world-leading manufacturing practices. Many mid-size companies have also joined the Industry Consortium of Continuous Manufacturing to experience the flow synthesis and scale-up approaches.

This new state-of-the-art​‘Living Lab’ facility will initially develop and demonstrate the potential of both solvent-free manufacturing methods and continuous manufacturing. Continuous manufacturing is widely accepted as a more sustainable and efficient method to batch manufacturing, while incorporating solvent-free reactions is expected to significantly reduce the quantity of hazardous waste generated during pharmaceutical manufacturing. The greener manufacturing practices will allow companies partnering with Indian manufacturers to adhere to Scope 3 targets by reducing indirect greenhouse gas emissions, which in turn can open access to European markets.

India, the world’s biggest supplier of generic medications, produces over 60% of the world’s vaccinations and supplies a quarter of all medicines in the UK. Medicinal and pharmaceutical products were the second largest category of goods the UK imported from India in 2022, accounting for £533.8 million worth of trade or 7.5% of all imports from India, according to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry.

Dr Arun Harish, Chief Strategy Officer at CPI, said:

“The ​‘Living Lab’ allows for a new collaborative model with industry that fosters demonstration of new greener technology and processes that can be adopted at scale. The potential impact this project could have on the pharmaceutical sector’s drive towards industrial decarbonisation and productivity gain is huge.”

Dr Ashish Lele, Director of CSIR-NCL, said:

“The​‘Living Lab’ will be a unique testbed that will allow the Indian chemical and pharmaceutical industries to validate the advantages of emerging technologies and help them to transition from conventional batch manufacturing to continuous manufacturing, thereby contributing to a significant reduction in emissions and effluents.” 

Sudarshan Jain, Secretary-General at the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) said:

“Continuous manufacturing is an enabler for improving pharmaceutical manufacturing performance. With growing regulatory acceptance — exemplified by the FDA’s approval of over a dozen CM-produced drugs — leading pharma companies are shaping a future driven by smart automation. By integrating patient-centric, technology-enabled processes into daily operations, the industry is advancing towards greater efficiency and sustainability. The CPI UK-NCL India Living Lab will further accelerate this transformation, fostering innovation and operational excellence on a global scale.”