Outsourced manufacture

With significant externalisation of manufacturing activity in line with our business strategy we recognise the importance of working with suppliers to ensure they have ethical standards that are consistent with our own. This incorporates setting environmental standards and working to minimise the environmental footprint of our supply chain.

Our approach

Since 2005 we have been working with key drug substance suppliers to measure and report the environmental impact of the manufacturing activity they carry out on our behalf. With our new SHE Strategy adopted in 2010 we have continued this work to report the environmental footprint associated with outsourced drug substance manufacture (intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients) and now have performance improvement targets in place with prioritised suppliers.

The environmental measures we have selected at this time are waste generation, CO₂ emissions from energy use and, from 2010, water use.

In addition we understand, and take seriously, concerns about the detections of trace amounts of pharmaceutical residues in the environment. You can read more about our approach here. (link to Our Approach page of Pharmaceuticals in the Environment). In 2011 we have started sharing our Environmental Reference Concentration (ERC) concept with key outsourced manufacturing partners enabling them to assess risk and manage any emissions of the APIs they manufacture or formulate on our behalf.

Our performance

Waste

We have determined that waste generated from outsourced manufacture is similar to that from our own activities; some 34 thousand tonnes in 2010 compared with a total of 44 thousand tonnes from our own sites.

CO₂ from energy

CO₂ emissions from energy used for outsourced manufacture amounted to 55 thousand tonnes in 2010; about 11% of that from our own sites. This may be lower than the equivalent waste figure due to the fact that the energy consumption data from our suppliers relate only to our products, whereas the energy use and emissions figures from our own facilities are aggregated for all activities on the sites, not just manufacture.

Water

We have determined that water use from outsourced manufacture is much less than that from our own activities; some 0.5 million cubic metres in 2010 compared with a total of 4 million cubic metres at our own sites.

Safe discharges of APIs

During 2011 we shared information on our ERCs and the approach we take with 17 suppliers. We are working with our suppliers to conduct assessments and to understand how best to manage any emissions of the APIs they manufacture on our behalf.

Although we believe we have captured data for more than 90% of the globally managed outsourced manufacture of key intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients for our established brands in 2010, we continue working to further improve the completeness, transparency and relevance of the data for future reports.