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2025 Technical Session

Greening the Pharma Supply Chain: Innovations for Early Intermediate/Raw Material Processes

Sustainability requires collective efforts from all of us to innovate in the face of declining natural resources. To this end, our symposium aims to showcase cutting-edge green chemistry innovations in the production of structure-complex building blocks or intermediates to minimize environmental footprint (scope 3 emissions).

The session will highlight contributions from UNDP/EPA, Pharma, biotech, CROs, CDMOs, and academic researchers on the more efficient and sustainable ways to manufacture early intermediates/raw materials.   

Topics include but are not limited to:   

  • ESG and carbon neutrality 2030 goals
  • Case studies from CROs/CDMOs and Pharma/Biotech companies demonstrating the impact of green chemistry innovations 
  • Academic insights into challenging, yet critical, chemical transformations in the building block space.
  • Innovations relevant to various focus areas, including flow chemistry, catalysis/biocatalysis, chemistry in water, peptide synthesis, and nucleotide chemistry
  • Pharmaceutical/biotech investigation and sourcing strategy of building blocks
  • Strategies for selectively synthesizing complex molecules, such as highly substituted benzenes or asymmetric synthesis of small chiral molecules not accessible from the chiral pool which are often overlooked but essential in process chemistry.

The target audience for this session includes:

  • Process chemists and chemical engineers
  • Researchers from CDMOs, biotech, and pharmaceutical companies
  • Academics specializing in synthetic and process chemistry
  • Professionals interested in green chemistry and sustainable practices in chemical manufacturing

Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the latest innovations in building block chemistry, explore practical solutions to common challenges, and discover new opportunities for collaboration across academia and industry.

Session Organizers

  • Feng Peng, Merck & Co., Inc.
  • David Leahy, Biohaven
  • ZhenZhen Dong, PharmaBlock
  • Thorsten Rosner, J-Star Research/Porton

Session Sponsor

  • ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable

Conference Topics

  • Sustainable Process Design
  • Synthesis & Catalysis