AstraZeneca Targets Planet-Warming Inhalers to Cut Emissions

(Bloomberg) -- Inhalers helping patients with chronic lung conditions breathe are also adding congestion to the Earth's atmosphere.

This is spurring U.K. drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc to develop a new line of devices that use a propellant with near-zero climate impact. The company isn't alone. Rival GlaxoSmithKline Plc said last year it's working on similar planet-friendly technology.

AstraZeneca is collaborating with Honeywell International Inc. on the next-generation inhalers and plans to introduce them in 2025, Ben Fenby, global head of AstraZeneca's Aerosphere franchise, said in an interview.

“Inhalers are one of the more complex drug device options that the pharmaceutical industry makes,” he said.

The vapors from AstraZeneca inhalers being puffed today contribute around 800,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually — more than a tenth of the company's overall carbon footprint. AstraZeneca's indirect emissions from supplier activities and the use of its medicines have increased by 15% over the last two years as sales have climbed.

AstraZeneca's focus on the farthest reaches of its global warming contributions is part of an effort among big corporations to tackle the full scope of their climate impact as they aim for net-zero status within decades. For AstraZeneca, emissions from energy use in its own buildings and vehicles, called Scope 1 and 2, have declined in recent years and represent only a tiny portion of its footprint. Scope 3 emissions, from suppliers and the use of its treatments, contribute 20 times more, but the company has less influence over them.

“Scope 3 is the most substantial challenge,” said Juliette White, AstraZeneca's vice president of sustainability. AstraZeneca is trying to help suppliers boost renewable energy and set targets, she said.

Although suppliers are the biggest contributor to AstraZeneca's Scope 3 emissions, products are a more hands-on way for the drugmaker to make a difference. Many patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, rely on metered dose inhalers that contain small quantities of hydrofluorocarbons, a type of greenhouse gas, to propel the medicine into the lungs. That gas, which has also been used for decades in refrigerators and air conditioners, is hundreds of times more warming, ton for ton, than carbon dioxide.

AstraZeneca said early-stage tests show a propellant with near-zero warming potential — known as HFO-1234ze — performed similarly in terms of safety, tolerability and exposure to the one it uses in its Breztri Aerosphere product.

Chronic respiratory diseases affect more than half a billion people. COPD is the third leading cause of death worldwide and, though there is no cure, inhalers can help open airways and reduce inflammation in the lungs.

While inhalers are critical to controlling illnesses, their global warming contribution raises some additional health concerns. Alex Wilkinson, a doctor and respiratory specialist in Hertfordshire, north of London, says patients want the climate challenge posed by the devices addressed as they “care a lot about the quality of the air that they breathe.” Many of the same sources that cause climate change also lead to air pollution, which only creates more respiratory problems.

“These small inhalers can have a significant impact,” he said. Inhalers account for an estimated 13% of the U.K. National Health Service's emissions in delivering care to patients, or about 4% of its total footprint, according to Wilkinson.

GSK in September announced a research and development program aimed at reducing greenhouse-gas emissions from inhalers, mainly “rescue” medication Ventolin. Those are responsible for almost half of GSK's carbon emissions, the company said.

There are alternative devices with a lower carbon footprint already available, such as dry powder inhalers, but the higher upfront costs of some of those products might be limiting uptake, according to research co-authored by Wilkinson. New environmentally friendly options, with a lower price, would remove one barrier.

“This is ultimately a problem the industry needs to solve, and is working hard to solve,” Wilkinson said. “The industry has woken up to it now and are moving fast, but it takes time.”