CHRISTIANA BRIDDELL¹, ISAMIR MARTÍNEZ²

1. ACS Green Chemistry Institute, Washington, DC, USA
2. ACS Green Chemistry Institute, Washington, DC, USA

Abstract

This year, the ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable, a leading forum of global pharmaceutical and allied industries, celebrates its 20th year advancing the sustainability of manufacturing medicines through the implementation of green chemistry & engineering. The Roundtable’s impact has been identified by member companies as a leading factor contributing to sustainability strategies for the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Successful strategies to catalyze green chemistry include, i) driving academic research in key areas through the GCIPR grants program, 2) developing a suite of tools and metrics standardized across the industry and open to the public, 3) advancing learning opportunities through accessible online courses and in person training, as well as regular participation in scientific fora. The Roundtable’s global membership ensures best practices are widely distributed and member companies across the supply chain can contribute to effective solutions.
On January 24, 2005, a unique global collaboration was launched between members of the pharmaceutical industry and the American Chemical Society (ACS) Green Chemistry Institute (GCI) to catalyze green chemistry and engineering throughout the global pharmaceutical industry—the ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable.

Three founding members, Pfizer, Lilly, and Merck, were joined by four more companies within a year. Initial projects included benchmarking green chemistry practices, identifying top chemistry challenges, publishing green chemistry case studies, and strategizing how to bring green chemistry into earlier phases of the R&D process.

As the Roundtable developed, they identified the following strategic objectives—which have guided them until today: 1) Informing and Influencing the Research Agenda, 2) Defining and Delivering Tools for Innovation, 3) Educating Students & Influencing Leaders, and doing all of these while collaborating globally.

In 2018 in response to interest and changes in the industry, the Roundtable updated its business plan to open the door up to companies in the supply chain, including CDMOs, as associate members, and companies in related industries (e.g., agrichemicals and animal health) as affiliate members. As a result, membership has grown dramatically to over 50 companies today (Figure 1); with 11 companies from Asia, 19 from Europe and 20 from the U.S. The diversity of voices at the table brings a strengt ...