Green Chemistry is Quietly Reshaping the Way Medicines Are Made
Alex Del Priore, SVP – Manufacturing Services
In recent years, green chemistry has begun to move from the margins of pharmaceutical development into its core. While sustainability has long been a talking point in the industry, practical integration into drug development has often lagged behind ambition. That is beginning to change.
What was once dismissed as either impractical or idealistic is now showing commercial and operational value. With rising scrutiny of supply chains, tightening solvent regulations, and investor pressure around ESG disclosures, companies are finding that applying green chemistry principles can help them do more than reduce environmental impact—it can also lead to better processes, faster development timelines, and more resilient production models.
This shift is playing out across every phase of the drug development lifecycle, from early-stage design to commercial-scale manufacture. In the past, sustainability was often considered late in the process, once the synthesis route had already been established. Today, more organisations are building sustainability into the decision-making from the outset—treating green chemistry as a form of risk management as much as a moral imperative.
That doesn’t mean the transition is easy. Pharmaceutical molecules are inherently complex. Their function often depends on specific structural features that are difficult to modify. Redesigning a drug to be biodegradable, for instance, could undermine its efficacy or change its safety profile. For this reason, green chemistry in pharma tends to focus less on altering the molecule and more on how the molecule is made.
That’s where opportunities are starting to emerge at scale. Across the industry, researchers and engineers are exploring ways to reduce solvent volumes, replace hazardous reagents, and minimise the number of synthetic steps required to reach the final product. Catalytic approaches, enzymatic transformations, and telescoped reactions are becoming more common. Analytical techniques and modelling tools are being used to simulate process conditions before lab work begins, reducing experimental loads and improving predictability.
Metrics like Process Mass Intensity (PMI) and E-factor, once rarely discussed outside specialist circles, are now becoming routine elements of process evaluation. Digital tools such as electronic lab notebooks and modelling software are enabling real-time visibility into solvent selection, energy consumption, and waste output. These tools are allowing teams to assess greener alternatives early enough in development to actually adopt them.
Some examples are already pointing to what this shift can achieve. In one project, our team at Syngene applied green chemistry principles from the outset and achieved an 80% reduction in both the E-factor and PMI, indicating a substantial decrease in waste and material usage. In another, we telescoped multiple synthetic steps into a continuous process, which not only improved PMI but also shortened the development timeline by four weeks.
Perhaps most strikingly, these outcomes are being achieved without compromising product quality or compliance. Instead of being an add-on or constraint, sustainability is becoming a signal of technical excellence. It shows up in leaner processes, better use of materials, and more transparent environmental metrics.
There is also growing awareness of how sustainability and scalability intersect. The environmental burden of manufacturing doesn’t always become visible until a process is scaled up. What looks clean and efficient in the lab may require excessive solvent or energy inputs at commercial volumes. The push now is to develop routes that hold up not only technically, but environmentally, at every scale.
This demands a broader systems view. It’s no longer enough to think of chemistry as operating in isolation. Teams are increasingly expected to understand how process decisions affect downstream factors such as water usage, waste segregation, and energy demand. Facilities are investing in solvent recovery systems, zero-discharge water management, and modular process equipment that supports more efficient use of resources.
At the same time, green chemistry is enabling new types of collaboration. Process chemists, engineers, digital modellers, safety experts, and environmental teams are working together earlier and more frequently. This cross-disciplinary integration is changing the culture of pharmaceutical development, breaking down the silos that once separated science, operations, and sustainability.
Still, challenges remain. There is no universal blueprint for how to ”go green” in pharmaceutical R&D. What works for one molecule or modality may not apply to another. Some of the more novel approaches—such as continuous flow chemistry or solvent-free synthesis—still face limitations around equipment availability, technical expertise, or regulatory familiarity.
Yet the direction of travel is clear. Whether through carbon audits, green procurement criteria, or investor engagement on ESG performance, the pressure to make development more sustainable is only likely to grow. In response, the sector is beginning to see green chemistry not as a constraint but as a catalyst. It is reshaping how technical decisions are made, how teams are structured, and how success is measured.
If there is a lesson in all of this, it is that sustainability cannot be added on after the fact. It needs to be part of the design logic from the beginning. The companies that are making the fastest progress are those treating environmental efficiency as a fundamental part of product development—not an optional extra to be addressed once other boxes have been ticked.
In that sense, green chemistry is no longer just a toolkit. It is becoming part of the operating system for pharmaceutical innovation.
