Inspiring process innovation
Via an improved green manufacturing metric: IGAL
Frank Roschangar (Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.)
Yanyan Zhou (California State University East Bay)
David J.C. Constable (American Chemical Society)
Juan Colberg (Pfizer Inc.)
David P. Dickson (Teva Pharmaceuticals)
Peter J. Dunn (Pfizer Limited, UK)
Jason Mulder (Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.)
Jörg Brandenburg (Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH and Co. KG)
Roger A. Sheldon (TU Delft - Applied Sciences, University of Witwatersrand)
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Abstract
Following our goal to devise a unified green chemistry metric that inspires innovation in sustainable drug manufacturing across the pharmaceutical industry, we herein disclose joint efforts by IQ, the ACS GCI PR and academia, leading to the significantly improved 'innovation Green Aspiration Level' (iGAL) methodology. Backed by the statistical analysis of 64 drug manufacturing processes encompassing 703 steps across 12 companies, we find that iGAL affords an excellent proxy for molecular complexity and presents a valuable molecular weight-based 'fixed' goal. iGAL thereby accurately captures the impact of green process inventiveness and improvements, making it a useful innovation-driven green metric. We conclude by introducing the comprehensive, yet easy-to-use and readily adaptable Green Chemistry Innovation Scorecard web calculator, whose graphical output clearly and effectively illustrates the impact of innovation on waste reduction during drug manufacture.