Ideally, all future pharmaceuticals would be:
In practice, this is near-impossible to achieve and stakeholders within the pharmaceutical industry are recognising this. It would be great if some future APIs can be designed to fit this ideal synthesis, but it is very unlikely to be the case for all small molecules. Additionally, these new molecules and syntheses would not replace current treatments within the coming decades, meaning that the environmental legacy of current APIs will remain an issue for many years to come.
Whilst the introduction and use of totally environmentally benign APIs is currently a long way off, there are a number of defined measures society can take:
K. Kümmerer, Presence, Fate and Risks of Pharmaceuticals in the Environment, in Green and Sustainable Medicinal Chemistry: Methods, Tools and Strategies for the 21st Century Pharmaceutical Industry, The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2016, ch. 6, pp. 63-72.
K. Kümmerer, Benign by Design, in Green and Sustainable Medicinal Chemistry: Methods, Tools and Strategies for the 21st Century Pharmaceutical Industry, The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2016, ch. 7, pp. 73-81.
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