A new UK-based consortium, led by Exactmer, with support from GSK, has been awarded over £7 million in funding from Innovate UK in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), to advance the production of high purity bio-based solvents for medicines manufacturing.
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The 36-month project aims to bolster the UK’s leadership in sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing and accelerate the scale up of bio-based solvents for low carbon medicine manufacturing.
Established by ERM and Ayming, the consortium brings together technology providers, medicines manufacturers, and pharmaceutical companies to address one of the sector’s most pressing environmental challenges: reducing emissions linked to solvent use in medicines manufacturing.
Collaborating to tackle the barriers to bio-based solvent adoption
While essential to pharmaceutical production, solvents are currently a major contributor to Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions for medicines manufacturers. Replacing petroleum-derived solvents with bio-based alternatives offers a circular pathway to decarbonisation. However, achieving the high purity and moisture control required for pharmaceutical applications has proven energy- and cost‑intensive, delaying wider adoption.
The consortium will bring together key players from across the pharma manufacturing and fine chemicals industry to overcome these barriers, using advanced membrane purification technologies to industrialise the production of cost-effective, low-greenhouse gas, bio-based solvents. This innovation will allow manufacturers to adopt these alternatives without major changes to existing infrastructure or processes.
The project will aim to validate these alternatives in existing medicines manufacturing for small-molecules and oligonucleotides, de-risk regulation pathways, and establish a supply chain for the production of pharmaceutical-grade bio-based solvents. It will target lifecycle greenhouse gas reductions of at least 60% compared with conventional solvents, paving the way for global commercial scale production by the early 2030s.
Consortium members
ERM and Ayming initiated the project and coordinated the consortium’s successful funding application to Innovate UK, as part of the Sustainable Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Programme. The consortium of technology providers, manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies was established following the successful Expression of Interest phase, to support the UK’s production of high purity bio-based solvents.
Consortium members include:
- Technology providers – Exactmer, Queen Mary University London, Atmospheric AI and SOLVE Chemistry
- Solvent manufacturers – OXCCU, Celtic Renewables and University of Leeds
- Global pharmaceutical companies – GSK and Croda
- Global life sciences company – Cytiva
- Translational research and innovation organisation – CPI
Andrew Livingston, CEO of Exactmer and Vice Principal for Research Innovation at Queen Mary University London said: "We are excited to be involved in this challenging new project which will enable wider use of biobased solvents in the pharmaceutical production supply chain. It’s great to be part of this broad-based industry collaboration, and we look forward to driving the Government’s Industrial Strategy forward through Life Sciences Manufacturing."