Visit to GSK

From this trip to GSK, it is evident that GSK aims to achieve environmental sustainability. GSK aims to be carbon neutral (zero carbon emission) by 2050 and has already put in place a series of strategies and measures to reach this aim. The strategies include reduction in water use, raw materials and carbon dioxide emission. For example, GSK aims to recover used solvent and recycle them. The quality of the solvent will not be compromised during the process. This way, less raw materials will be required, maximising the use of these raw materials. Also, one of the plans is waste heat boiler. Since most chemical reactions taking place in pharmaceutical company, GSK, are exothermic, they release energy to the surroundings as heat. The thermal energy can then be used to heat up other reactors in the company. The 2^nd generation processes are other strategies by GSK. GSK promotes research and development to use new methods to produce active ingredients of high quality with less raw materials or power consumption. High carbon emission and waste production are major problems in today’s world. However, as time goes on, rate of production will definitely increase. This will even makes it even harder for GSK to become carbon neutral. Their effort to do something for Earth is worth applauding and learning.

(Further reading on GSK actions and plans to ensure environmental sustainability:
http://www.gsk.com/responsibility/cr-report-2010/environmental-sustainability/ )

Currently, GSK produces 90% of the active ingredients for respiratory drugs worldwide. GSK is also famous for some of their medicine and products targeting respiratory disease. One of these includes Advair Diskus, which prevent and treat asthma symptoms. However, the medicine comes together with the device to administer it. Furthermore, this device cannot be reused as the medicine is not refillable. If new methods to administer the drug with the same device, or make the medicine refillable, it is then possible to produce lesser such devices. This way, it helps to save cost and makes it more affordable to more people. Most importantly, by reducing the products manufactured, it also reduces the use of raw materials, hence saving the world.

Major Takeaways

• Ensuring sustainability is necessary
  Amount of waste is increasing. Amount of energy consumption is increasing. Amount of raw materials used is increasing. These are all consequences of increasing economic activities. As rate of manufacturing increases, it is inevitable for company to use more raw materials and produce more waste. However, this may not be true in all cases. For example in GSK, plans and strategies have already been put in place to make the company carbon neutral by 2050 despite projections showing that rate of manufacturing will continue to rise. Innovations such as solvent recovery, 2^nd generation processes and waste heat boiler not only aim to raise the competitiveness of the GSK and save cost on energy, raw materials, but also help to save the environment, ensuring sustainability. Earth is our home and it is only right that we protect her. However hard it may be, I think everyone, and every company should work together towards a greener future to prevent adverse effects such as further increase in global temperature or extinction of more animals.
  
  
  
• Knowledge of how drugs are manufactured
  Small percentage (approximately 3% for Panadol ) of active ingredients is used in producing one drug tablet. The rest of the drug tablet is made up of excipients such as lactose. The production of a new drug goes a long way, taking about 10 to 15 years of continuous hard work and research. For example, for development and optimisation of new drugs, many factors such as seed loading, seed size, temperature for the process, solvent used are considered. Furthermore, even if a new drug is discovered, it is also essential to consider different factors to scale up the process to meet the demands of the customers and ensure economic sustainability. Definitely, drug discovery is also very important in ensuring that GSK remains strong in the pharmaceutical sector. (Further reading on discovery of new medicine by GSK: http://www.gsk.com/research/discover/index.htm )