Pharma industry

Current Issues in the PHARMA Industry:

The pharmaceutical industry is grappling with significant environmental and social challenges. With 4.4% of global carbon emissions attributed to the healthcare sector, pharmaceuticals are among the most carbon-intensive areas, contributing heavily through supply chain emissions and pharmaceutical waste.

In addition, biopiracy remains a major concern, particularly in drug discovery and the use of indigenous medicinal plants.

Challenges Facing the PHARMA Industry:

The two key challenges for the pharma industry are:

1. Carbon Footprint : Pharmaceuticals contribute disproportionately to carbon emissions, with production, transportation, and waste management being significant culprits. Drug manufacturing processes often generate substantial amounts of waste, further increasing the carbon footprint.

2. Biopiracy : The extraction and commercialization of traditional knowledge, particularly plant-based medicinal knowledge, without fair compensation to indigenous communities, leads to social and ethical issues. This exploitation has resulted in lost benefits for these communities and strained relationships with pharmaceutical companies.

SolutionS Offered by Anima:

Cultural insetting approach can address both the environmental and social challenges faced by the pharma industry :

• Ethical Sourcing and Compensation : Through the MyRites platform, Anima ensures that pharmaceutical companies source traditional knowledge and natural resources ethically, with fair compensation and legal protection for indigenous communities. This prevents biopiracy and helps protect biodiversity while strengthening the relationship between companies and local communities.

• Integration of Ancestral Knowledge : Anima works to integrate traditional medicinal knowledge into the research and development phases, ensuring that this knowledge is used ethically and in a way that benefits both the company and the community

• Reduction of Carbon Footprint : By promoting sustainable harvesting of plant-based resources and integrating low-impact practices into production, Anima helps reduce the carbon intensity of pharmaceutical supply chains. The use of traditional ecological knowledge can enhance sustainability and minimize the need for energy-intensive synthetic processes

Alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

Anima’s cultural insetting methodology aligns with several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) :

• SDG 3 : Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being, by promoting equitable access to traditional medicines.

• SDG 12 : Responsible consumption and production, through the sustainable sourcing of natural resources.

• SDG 13 : Climate action, by reducing the carbon footprint of pharmaceutical production and promoting **environmentally friendly practices.

• SDG 15 : Life on land, by ensuring biodiversity protection and reducing the exploitation of natural resources.

 Impact on Carbon Footprint and Insetting:

Cultural insetting offers a way to mitigate the carbon footprint of the pharmaceutical industry by:

• Reducing the need for carbon-intensive synthetic drugs by using plant-based solutions :

• Sustainable harvesting practices that preserve ecosystems and reduce deforestation or environmental degradation.

• Encouraging companies to integrate low-impact cultural practices that have been sustainably developed over centuries, thus minimizing the environmental costs associated with pharmaceutical development