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From manufacturers to buyers: a value chain approach to responsible antibiotics procurement and production
Alba Tiley – Director of Sustainability (ESG) and Public Affairs, Centrient Pharmaceuticals
From elective surgeries to organ transplants and chemotherapy, 21st-century healthcare hinges on our ability to prevent and treat bacterial infections using antibiotics. However, the rapid growth of antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, threatens the many advancements achieved through modern medicine. Resistance to antibiotics is responsible for an estimated 33,000 deaths each year in the EU alone, and the numbers are growing quickly.
As well as inappropriate use during healthcare provision, AMR is linked to antibiotics residues from pharmaceutical manufacturing found in wastewater and other effluents. Increasingly, manufacturers are joining forces to address their role in preventing the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. The AMR Industry Alliance, of which Centrient Pharmaceuticals is a founding member, has developed an Antibiotic Manufacturing Framework to set a benchmark for good manufacturing practices, including targets to minimise pharmaceutical emissions.
Connecting production and procurement to combat AMR
Collaboration between producers does not go far enough. AMR is a global, sector-wide healthcare issue, and all parts of the value chain – procurers as well as producers – have a responsibility to ensure safe and sustainable production. Everything connects: by emphasising sustainable procurement, industry leaders can incentivise their suppliers to embed environmentally responsible practices, including by alerting them to the growing business risks posed by AMR. Besides rewarding responsible antibiotics production, procurers can help foster transparency on sustainability along the value chain by encouraging suppliers to disclose their supply chain and environmental strategies.
Market incentives to promote sustainable antibiotics manufacturing and supply chain practices are also emerging on a national level. The Swedish County Councils uses environmental criteria in healthcare procurement while, in Norway, sustainability accounts for 30% of government-mandated procurement scoring criteria. On an international level, we can point to Sustainable Procurement in the Health Sector, a United Nations initiative established in 2012 to drive compliance and due diligence throughout the health supply chain, with a focus on responsible procurement.
Stronger together
A cross-sectoral approach to AMR starts by bringing different pharmaceutical stakeholders around the same table. This year’s CleanMed Europe conference is an opportunity for manufacturers, buyers, and regulators to discuss best practices and explore how they can be scaled for impact. By connecting AMR mitigation frontrunners on both the supply side and demand side, we can accelerate momentum towards a pharmaceuticals ecosystem that supports responsible antibiotics manufacturing.
This will be the focus of a dedicated session, Enabling responsible antibiotics manufacturing: a whole value chain approach, taking place at CleanMed Europe on 2 December. Keynote speakers from the World Health Organization and European Commission DG Environment will discuss the role of responsible manufacturing in the fight against antimicrobial resistance, including through market and policy instruments, as well as international processes such as the, G7, G20 and the UN Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance. A panel discussion involving a manufacturing company, a procurer and a government representative, among others, will elicit a range of perspectives on this important topic.
The session has been organised by the Responsible Antibiotics Manufacturing Platform (RAMP), a cross-industry partnership to raise standards for sustainable production and co-create innovative solutions to tackle AMR.
