Products & packaging

SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS

The risk of adverse environmental impacts from our products can normally be reduced or eliminated by considering environmental issues carefully during the product development process. However, traditional pharmaceuticals present major challenges in this respect, since there is usually very limited flexibility to modify the active molecule to improve its environmental profile whilst preserving its efficacy and minimising any potential side effects for patients. This issue is discussed further in the Pharmaceuticals in the Environment section.

The principal impact of our inhalation therapy product portfolio is in the potential for the propellant gases contained in specific devices known as pressurised Metered Dose Inhalers (pMDIs) to contribute to climate change. These issues, and how we are managing them, are discussed in the Climate Change section.

SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING AND DEVICES

Environmental considerations are taken into account at an early stage of development, since it is difficult to improve the environmental characteristics of packaging or a device once a product is on the market. Packaging and devices are designed and manufactured to allow recycling of a certain percentage by weight or have a minimum calorific value to allow optimisation of energy recovery. However, pharmaceutical packaging materials or devices may not always be recyclable; some devices cannot be fully emptied or are overfilled to ensure that the patient receives a consistent dose throughout the life of the device.

We believe that packaging has an important role to play in contributing to sustainable development. Packaging that protects products helps to prevent waste, reduces environmental impact and avoids economic loss. We also believe that assessment of packaging sustainability should incorporate the whole life-cycle of the packaging, which among other things involves the materials we purchase, how we purchase them, the manufacturing processes, transport of products and final disposal.

Projects initiated during 2007-2008 involve work to reduce the complexity of packaging and to understand the real value of our packaging to fulfil end user needs.

In Europe, there is often a requirement to distribute pharmaceutical tablets packaged in 'blister packs'. The conventional packaging material used is polyvinylchloride (PVC) which, along with the related polymer polyvinylidine chloride (PVdC), is one of the most commonly used materials due to its ability to protect the product from moisture while at the same time being easy to mould. To reduce emissions resulting from disposal of packaging waste in Japan, major pharmaceutical companies have voluntarily changed their blister packaging materials, and we substituted with polypropylene (PP) for tablet products for the Japanese market. We have also transferred to PP mono blister packaging for the local Swedish product Alvedon. We continue to look for opportunities to use more environmentally friendly and ergonomic packaging materials and practices to minimise the solid waste stream from our package development and commercial packaging processes.

During the late stage development of Symbicort pMDI, changes were made to the packaging materials, significantly reducing manufacturing failures and wastage of packaging materials in the production environment. Another driver for this improvement was damage seen to the product after transport, as early product configurations had exhibited a failure rate of greater than 15%. To address this, working in partnership with the packaging suppliers, the assembly process was revised and the overall volume of the outer carton was reduced by almost 50%. This ensured a better fit of the product within the carton, thus minimising any movement during transportation. The reduction in carton volume has given two main environmental benefits: 38% more product can be packed into the same space, resulting in a significant drop in the airfreight for supply to the United States - the principal market for Symbicort pMDI; and the material content for packaging of Symbicort pMDI has also been significantly reduced.

Another example of optimising transport packaging materials are the changes made as a result of simulation studies performed at our packaging facilities in Caponago, Italy and Macclesfield, UK. Substitution of recyclable corrugated cardboard packaging for the Diprivan prefilled glass syringes will reduce the amount of transport packaging used by approximately 45 tonnes per year and give significant cost reductions.

Our packaging facility in Newark, US has reduced sample blister size and carton size of Zomig to less than 50% of original sizes, which has resulted in reduction of material usage and increased line efficiency. The facility also implemented waste reduction initiatives for labels by changing the print area of the label from UV-based ink to water-based ink and changing the practice of destroying partial label rolls. As result of these two initiatives, the label scrap rate was reduced by ~ 40-50%.