DSM Sinochem Pharmaceuticals wins European Responsible Care Award for work in sustainable antibiotics

DSM Sinochem Pharmaceuticals (DSP) has won the prestigious CEFIC European Responsible Care Award in the Product Stewardship Category for its Sustainable Antibiotics programme. The programme is DSP’s own initiative to promote the responsible manufacturing and use of antibiotics.

The European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) runs the awards as part of its effort to strengthen the Responsible Care initiative, the global industry’s commitment to sustainability, and boost best-practice sharing across Europe.

DSP wants to play a leading role in the important global fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR), caused by the misuse and irresponsible manufacturing of antibiotics, and particularly in reducing the environmental impact from the production of antibiotics. To this end, the company launched its Sustainable Antibiotics programme in October 2014 and has already put in place the basic measures to manufacture antibiotics responsibly: use of the cleanest production technology available for its products and the operation of dedicated wastewater treatment plants at all production sites in combination with antimicrobial activity testing.

DSP has also taken on a high-profile campaigning role in the fight against AMR by calling on both the industry and the entire value chain to act responsibly and stop buying, using and selling irresponsibly produced antibiotics.

The company was one of the driving forces in establishing the UN Industry Roadmap to combat AMR. This roadmap was presented at the UN General Assembly on 21 September in New York and signed by 13 leading pharmaceutical companies, including DSP. With the reduction of the environmental impact from antibiotics production as one of the four commitments in that Roadmap, this topic is now firmly on the agenda of leading pharmaceutical companies.

Cefic’s President presented the European Responsible Care Award in the Product Stewardship Category to DSP on 7 October 2016 in Florence, Italy. Announcing the winners, the jury members praised DSP’s ‘well-rounded programme with impact throughout the value chain’.

'Principles of care and carefulness are at the core of our business. We make high quality medicines to cure illnesses and save lives,' said Lucas Wiarda, Head of the Sustainable Antibiotics programme of DSP said. 'I simply cannot accept that irresponsible manufacturers pollute the environment with antibiotics, contributing to the biggest health and wealth threat to mankind today: antimicrobial resistance.

'Therefore I am especially proud that our efforts to raise awareness for responsible manufacturing and our calls for pollution-free antibiotics are recognised and shared by Cefic and the chemicals industry, by granting DSP with the Responsible Care Award for Product Stewardship.'

Karl Rotthier, CEO of DSP added: 'Our Sustainable Antibiotics programme has acted as a driver for sustainable change in our business and in the industry. With the Industry Roadmap now in place, pharmaceutical companies together with other stakeholders can and must act fast. I am convinced that in the coming years we will see antibiotics manufacturing companies move to sustainable and responsible suppliers. We must take, use and especially make antibiotics responsibly to conserve the effectiveness of existing antibiotics today, and for generations to come.'