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02/10/2026

New advances to reduce the environmental impact of medicines throughout their entire life cycle

The European project ETERNAL has concluded after four years of research with results demonstrating that it is possible to significantly reduce the environmental impact of medicines through the implementation of new technologies and sustainable approaches across the entire pharmaceutical value chain. Coordinated by AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Centre, and funded by the Horizon Europe programme, the project brought together 16 European organisations to develop solutions aimed at minimising the impacts associated with the design, manufacture, use and disposal of pharmaceutical products.

Medicines are essential to human health, but their life cycle can involve high consumption of resources, energy and chemicals, while also generating waste with the potential to affect ecosystems. To address these challenges, ETERNAL has promoted over the last four years a holistic approach based on pharmaceutical life cycle thinking and on the development of innovations capable of improving the sustainability of the European pharmaceutical sector.

Throughout the project, seven industrial case studies were developed covering different stages of the pharmaceutical value chain. Key achievements include new continuous manufacturing technologies and solvent recycle developed together with pharmaceutical companies such as Angelini Pharma and Laboratorio Reig Jofre, as well as green chemistry and resource recovery solutions driven by AstraZeneca, biotechnological developments led by MyBiotech and Saarland University, and new methodologies designed to integrate sustainability criteria into industrial decision-making. These developments have been complemented by research into the environmental impact of pharmaceuticals, which will contribute to improved risk assessment and support future sustainability policies in the pharmaceutical sector. The results demonstrate how energy, raw material and solvent consumption can be reduced, valuable materials recovered, and sustainable decision-making facilitated through digital tools.

One of the areas where the greatest progress has been achieved is continuous manufacturing. In collaboration with Angelini Pharma, the project verified the potential of twin-screw extrusion technology to simplify production processes, eliminate energy-intensive stages and reduce water consumption in pharmaceutical manufacturing. In parallel, together with Laboratorio Reig Jofre, continuous processes were developed for the production of nanoparticles and liposomes for drug delivery applications, incorporating digital tools capable of predicting final product characteristics while also enabling the reuse of solvents employed during manufacturing.

The project also promoted new solutions based on green chemistry and more efficient separation technologies. In two of the case studies, AstraZeneca demonstrated the potential of membrane technologies to replace highly energy-intensive conventional solvent swap operations and to recover and reuse catalysts employed in pharmaceutical synthesis. In the latter case, 98% of the product was recovered and the catalyst was successfully reused over multiple production cycles, reducing both waste generation and the need for fresh raw materials.

ETERNAL also explored new biotechnological strategies to minimise the environmental impact of active pharmaceutical ingredient production. Researchers at Saarland University applied genetic engineering techniques to modify microorganisms used in industrial fermentation processes, reducing the generation of unwanted by-products and simplifying downstream purification stages. At the same time, MyBiotech developed a continuous process for the production and purification of rapamycin, an important immunosuppressant drug, using renewable-source solvents and real-time monitoring systems to optimise process efficiency.

In addition to technological developments, the project generated tools designed to facilitate the integration of environmental criteria into industrial decision-making. In this field, Britest developed a methodology that helps companies and organisations evaluate technology options by jointly considering technical, economic, environmental and social factors, even during early innovation stages when available information is limited.

ETERNAL has also contributed to expanding scientific knowledge on the behaviour of pharmaceuticals in the environment. In this area, project partners Universidade de Aveiro and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) investigated the occurrence, fate and environmental impacts of active pharmaceutical ingredients and their metabolites, generating new data to improve environmental risk assessment and support future evidence-based regulatory decisions.

Contributing to the European Green Pharma Agenda

Beyond its technical achievements, ETERNAL has helped strengthen European collaboration around pharmaceutical sustainability. In 2024, the project joined forces with ENVIROMED, IMPACTIVE, SusPharma and TransPharm to establish an informal Green Pharma Cluster, aimed at generating scientific synergies and maximising the impact of research funded by the European Union.

As a result of this collaboration, the five projects jointly developed the policy brief “Towards a Green Pharmaceutical Future in Europe”, which sets out recommendations to accelerate the transition towards a more sustainable pharmaceutical sector. The document advocates the integration of environmental criteria throughout the entire life cycle of medicines and proposes measures to promote innovation, competitiveness and sustainability across the European pharmaceutical industry.

The results achieved by ETERNAL demonstrate that the combination of continuous manufacturing, digitalisation, green chemistry, resource recovery and sustainable-by-design approaches can help reduce the environmental impact of medicines without compromising their quality, safety or efficacy. The knowledge generated throughout the project will provide a foundation for future innovations and for the development of policies supporting a sustainable transition of the European pharmaceutical sector.

The ETERNAL project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Framework Programme under Grant Agreement No. 101057668.