Pfizers miljö- och ansvarsblogg

MistraPharma and Waste Water Treatment

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Welcome to the WWTP

The Board of the MistraPharma project met yesterday at AstraZeneca’s waste water treatment plant (WWTP) in Södertälje.

AstraZeneca WWTP

We had a full day at the WWTP with an ordinary Board meeting where we followed up on the project plan for the MistraPharma initiative in general, but in addition to the general agenda we also focused specifically on the waste water treatment sub-project, led by Professor Jes la Cour Jansen.

Improved waste water treatment technologies is one of 4 main objectives in the MistraPharma project:

1) Identification of pharmaceuticals of environmental concern:
MistraPharma will contribute to identifying the active pharmaceutical ingredients on the Swedish market most likely to cause adverse effects in the aquatic environment. The programme will also generate data on which molecular structure elements that are important for biodegradability of pharmaceutical compounds.

2) Recommendations to improve wastewater treatment technologies:  
MistraPharma will identify and develop wastewater treatment technologies that will help improve the elimination of high-risk pharmaceuticals from waste water treatment plants. Any recommendations to improve waste water treatment will be based on an integrated analysis taking into account what is environmentally motivated, technically feasible and economically realistic.  

3) Improved risk identification strategies:  
MistraPharma will develop new tools for detecting environmental effects of human pharmaceuticals based on the compounds´ expected pharmacological mechanisms or using explorative methods covering a broad range of biological interactions. Based on these methods MistraPharma will propose new approaches to ecotoxicological testing of  pharmaceuticals.

4) Stakeholder communication: 
MistraPharma will ensure that the stakeholders, such as the pharmaceutical industry, national, regional and local authorities, waste water treatment plants and, health care, are actively informed about and given access to the new knowledge and expertise that will enable them to limit the effects of human pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment.

Jes presented the results so far from the research on improved waste water treatment technologies and I am pleased to see that the data generated support conlusions that have previously been made, e.g. in the Stockholm Vatten project on pharmaceutical residues (you can read more about that project on this blog post from Dec 11, 2009). But the data also supports the type of technologies that are applied in industry’s own waste water treatment plants. We know that biofilm reactors are more efficient, and more robust and stable, than active sludge when waste water with pharmaceutical residues is treated. We utilize oxidation/degradation processes such as ozon treatment and chlorine dioxide treatment, and of course activated carbon as a very powerful sorbent. The important knowledge that is being generated by Jes and his coworkes is how these type of techniques can be successfully (and financially defendable) integrated into the existing publicly owned waste water treatment plants. Plants that very often are built around an active sludge process, and plants that generally receives a very complex mixture of contaminents at very low concentrations. One additional difference is of course that the publicly owned treatment plants cannot pre-treat specific waste water flows which is something we very often do in the industry in order to optimize the process.

The MistraPharma project now enters into the final year of the “Phase 1″ project (2008 to 2011). It will be very interesting to see the general conclusions and list of achievements from this first phase, and I hope Mistra will fund a Phase 2, because there are of course still a number of important issues that need further research!

We closed the day at AstraZeneca by listening to Gisela Holm and Helena Wadsten from AstraZeneca’s SHE unit (Safety, Health and Environment). Gisela discussed Environmental Sustainability Efforts with us, areas such as:

- Green Drug Design

- Green Drug Manufacturing Processes

- Intelligent Environmental Testing and Assessments

- Sustainable Products Packaging

- Minimizing Un-used Medicines

- Data Transparency

- Ecopharmacovigilance

and Helena led the discussion on minimizing environmental impacts in manufacturing, especially from the outsourcing perspective.

It is very promising to see that we are several pharma companies that has started on a Green Journey. Together we will, and especially if good collaborations can be achiened with all relevant stakeholders in society, see impressing changes over time. Please read more about AstraZeneca’s work on responsibility initiatives via the this link, more about Pfizer’s work on Environmental Sustainability via this link, and on the industry collaboration regarding environmental standards, audits and follow-ups when external supply is considered on Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative (PSCI).

CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility

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There is a never ending semantic discussion regarding which term to use to decribe the strategies and initiatives corporations do within the field of “social sustainability”. I have over the years my self used both the most common term and abbreviation Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, as well as Corporate Citizenship, Corporate Responsibility or in Swedish “socialt ansvarstagande” och “samhällsansvar”. It is however important to acknowledge that the semantic discussion does not really add to the value created by the initiatives themselves. Personally I use the term CSR most of the time for the simple reason that it is well established, but occasionally Corporate Responsibility or even Corporate Reputation (which connects the responsibility aspect with the communication aspect, see my blog post from yesterday).

The CSR-initaitives are the most important thing to discuss. And I have just returned back to the office after a meeting with Johan Oljeqvist and Martin Dworén (Managing Director and head of Public Affairs respectively at the Fryshuset organization) regarding health related CSR-initiatives.

Fryshuset

I have to admit that it feels almost ridiculous to blog about a meeting at Fryshuset in English… The conversation was held in Swedish and the initiatives and ideas we discussed were all related to Swedish situations and problems, although similar issues exists all around the globe. So let’s switch over to Swedish for the remaining part of the blog post.

Vi diskuterade såväl Fryshusets många olika projekt och program liksom Pfizers och andra organisationers arbeten. Initiativ som på olika sätt alla hade en koppling till bekämpning av ohälsa eller främjande av hälsa. Ett projekt som sjäkvklart berördes var det tobakspreventiva projektet Dizza Tobak. Pfizer stödjer SAMBA, som driver Dizza Tobak tillsammans med samarbetspartners såsom A Non Smoking Generation. Fryshuset är en av 42 medlemsorganisationer inom nätverksorgansiationen SAMBA. Vi tittade på flera olika problemområden utöver tobak:

- andra droger utöver tobak, dvs alkohol, narkotika och dopingmedel

- våldsbrott av olika slag, där unga tjejer känner en stor oro för att de kan komma att utsättas för våldtäkter, medan många unga killar mer eller mindre ständigt känner oro för att åka på stryk

- mobbning och en allt mer utbredd rasism

- avsaknad av mötesplatser, där barn och ungdomar träffar vuxna förebilder

- och allt detta leder till utanförskap på olika sätt med resultatet fysisk och/eller psykist ohälsa.

Här finns en stor roll för näringslivet att spela. Vi behöver samla alla olika sektorer i samhället - såväl den privata, som den ideella och den offentliga. En ökad ohälsa, såväl fysisk som psykisk bland barn och ungdomar, kommer att ha katastrofala konsekvenser både på den individuella planet och för samhället i stort. Alla goda krafter behöver samverka för att ta sig an den utmaningen. Och då måste misstänksamheten mellan de olika sektorerna, och mellan olika aktörer inom sektorerna, försvinna. Det finns goda krafter inom såväl det privata och offentliga som inom den ideella sektorn. Och vi inom det privata näringslivet måste inse att vi inte uppträder som konkurrenter med varandra i denna typ av samarbeten, på samma sätt som de ideella organisationerna inom ramen för en samverkansprojekt måste sluta att konkurrera med varandra och ta varje chans att visa sitt eget varumärke.

En bra och öppen diskussion tycker jag att vi hade, en diskussion som borgar för ett fortsatt utbyte där vi kan lära av varandra. CSR-initiativ där organisationer från olika sektorer samverkar har stor potential att verkligen göra avtryck! Och att styra insatser till barn och ungdomar låter som en god investering för framtiden. Ett initiativ som ni vet att jag tycker om är SAMBAs stora kampanj kallad “Kraftsamling för barnen“. En alldeles utmärkt plattform för samverkan mellan olika organisationer!

Trust, Reputation, and Interactive Communications

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I am not really sure whether or not I should be switching back to Swedish. I have written my blog posts in English since last week when I was visiting Uganda. I apparently got a few new blog followers outside of Sweden, which I think is great fun, and they have asked me to continue blogging in English. But if I do so, I hope I will not lose my regular Swedish followers… Perhaps I can mix-and-match depending on subject and “my mood”. Today it will be English - I have been abroad the entire day so let’s make it somewhat international…

I have been in Brussels today discussing environmental matters with the “Trust, Reputation and Compliance Policy Committee” (TRCPC) of EFPIA (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations). I found the discussions very interesting and valuable since it helps us all to understand all different perspectives on which issues that could potentially, or already are, impacting our reputation as an industry. And of course also issues that could help us build trust and reputation if we take actions proactively.

I personally believe that “Corporate Reputation” will become more and more importance since it somehow combine areas such as Corporate Responsibility, the value of our Products and Services, the value of Research, Development and Innovations, and Communication.

Reputation Platform

Reference: Reputation Institute

And I strongly believe that working with Corporate Reputation will result in great achievements when it comes to sustainability improvements. Adding a greater emphasis on interactive communications to Corporate Responsibility (including both environmental matters and socially responsibly matters as well as business ethics and governance aspects) will help us all improve our performance. And greater emphasis on communications also more clearly puts focus on stakeholder engagement and dialogue. A dialogue that is crucial for all successful Corporate Responsibility programs. This however will only be accomplished if communication is based on transparency and openness and do not become “corporate bullshit”.

As you who have followed my blog since the start back in April 2008 knows I do sincerely think the industry does a lot of good things, both environmentally as well as socially. Initiatives that would build trust and result in a better reputation than what we seem to have today, if we only became more transparent and communicated more widely. This blog itself is one attempt to open up for a more interactive dialogue with a whole range of different stakeholders – an objective that I feel we have not really managed to meet. There is still to little of interactivity…

Please feed back environmental and/or social responsibility issues you feel are important for us as a company or us as part of the industry. Which issues do you want to know more about and where do you think we have to better understand what’s going on around us? Is the most important environmental issue for our industry Pharmaceuticals in the Environment, or is it something completely different? Is the most crucial socially responsible matters to focus on pharmaceutical donation programs and health care capacity building which were the topics I discussed last week on the blog during my Uganda visit (link to blog post on IDI, ITI, DPP). Or do you think we should have other aspects on the top of the Corporate Social Responsibility agenda?

I have presented the “Walderik-Mattson pyramid” a couple of times here at the blog (for instance on March 29). The pyramid includes CSR-initiatives of different kinds, depending on how developed the specific country or region is. Perhaps you feel that we should put stronger emphasis on certain parts of that pyramid. And if so, which part?

the Walderik-Mattson pyramid

Quality, safety, and efficacy of our innovative medicines will of course remain our greatest contribution to society, but I am eager to understand what you feel are additional aspects that need greater focus. Please help us to become better on interactive communications - your voice is extremely important to me!

What is a flat tyre…

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I have now been back in Sweden for two days. My mind is still filled with emotions from the Uganda trip, I and am sure it will be like that for a very long time. And actually I hope it will never go back to “normal situation”. Because, how could it. Let me exemplify with the matter that when I arrived home late on Friday night, I found my car with a flat tyre. I got very irritated and somewhat frustrated at first - but then realizing that my flat tyre problem is nothing to complain to much about compared with the challenges that the people I met in Uganda face every single day…

Homes in Kampala

The areas we visited, where the so called friends of the Infectious Diseases Institute lived their lifes, were far from the orginized living I have back home…

Family outside their home

But although they meet tough challenges, I have rarely met so energetic and happy people!

Happy faces...

So, what is actually my flat tyre to worry about? Actually it is already fixed, so it is not even any longer anything to talk about… No, let’s instead focus the energy to further develop and discuss the opportunities we have to make a real difference.

Infectious Diseases Institute

Let’s get inspired by initiatives such as the Infectious Diseases Institute where we in collaboration with our partners every day help people suffering from HIV/AIDS by giving them treatment and where we build capacity through training programs for physicians and nurses.

Doctor and patient

And let’s be optimistic by the International Trachoma Initiative with the clear aim of eliminating trachoma in this world by 2020.

Receiving the medicine

And let’s use an initiative such as the Diflucan Partnership Program as an example what the industry can committ to in order to help people in great need: Pharmaceutical donations “as long as they are needed” to fight fungal opportunistic infections associated with AIDS.

Doctor with patient

Let me once again finish a blog post with the following words (the same ones I used this Thursday):

After the trip to Uganda I am filled with “both fear, happiness, anxiety and great hope!” And that is something you can never get from a flat tyre…

A day with the Diflucan Partnership Program

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Today has been my last day here in Uganda experiencing the Pfizer philanthropic global programs that are part of the platform Pfizer Investments in Health.

Today the Pfizer press visit in Uganda has been focused on the Diflucan Partnership Program. Diflucan is a drug that treats fungal opportunistic infections associated with AIDS. Pfizer has promised that it will provide the medicine indefinitely through a donation program “as long as it is needed”. Since the year 2000 Pfizer has provided the medicine to a value of 1.2 billion US-dollars to 63 countries around the globe. One of these countries is Uganda, where the program was launched 2002.

In addition to the needed pharmaceutical, the program also aims for capacity building and health-care infrastructural support. To see the program work in real life we spend large part of the day at the Mengo Hospital in Kampala. We were welcomed to the hospital by the hospital management team.

Welcome to the hospital

After a short presentation of the hospital we walk over to the HIV/AIDS-centre. We were welcomed to talk to the patients that are taking part of the program. Once again, as during my previous days here in Uganda, I was deeply touched. The patients talked openly about their lifes and their situations, and the help they receive at the clinic. Help, support and the medications needed to live their lifes as good as possible.

We met with patients that could suffer from both HIV/AIDS and TB. Unfortunately a very common combination. The hospital professionals showed us around in the clinic - the reception area, the investigation rooms, the rooms where patients met with the doctors, and the pharmacy.

Investigation ongoing

I cannot really describe the experiences I have had during these days. It has been extremely strong feelings in the meetings and the discussions with patients. Some of the patients being severely ill in AIDS, but still with an incredible energy and willingness to fight on. I can only praise their fantastic attitudes and hope that the programs Pfizer and other organizations have put in place help these people in the fight towards the virus and bacteria…

As I was told before leaving for Uganda - “it will be a life changing experience”. I can only agree. I will never ever see life the same way again. These meetings have filled me with both fear, happiness, anxiety and great hope!