Environmental impact
Knowing the pharmaceutical manufacturing process is both energy and resource-intensive, sustainability, recycling, and reuse are essential to MipSalus. For that reason we have established a low-environmental-impact facility for the production of Phelimin. While working to increase the quality of life for those with PKU, we simultaneously strive to decrease our impact on the environment.
Water
Water is necessary to the production of Phelimin, but climate change impact water availability across the globe. At MipSalus, we are committed to reduce water consumption. Over the last couple of years we have developed and tested a new, energy efficient system to reclaim and reuse water from our production, and the system is now ready to be put into use. This system will thus not only help us reduce the use of water but also the energy used to produce Phelimin.
Ethanol
The production of Phelimin also requires a substantial amount of ethanol. MipSalus strives to decrease its ethanol use relative to production output, and we both recycle and regenerate the ethanol used in the production process.
Energy
We continuously work on reducing our CO2 emission. We use energy efficient technologies in our production processes, and to further reduce our environmental footprint we strive to electrify as much of the production as possible.
Waste
Reducing waste is essential to MipSalus. A key priority for us is the utilization of the production polymer by-product. Only a relatively small parts of the MIPs polymer contains phenylalanine specific binding sites, meaning that the majority of the polymer cannot be used for the final product used to treat PKU. To minimize the waste production, we work on identifying other applications of the MIPs particles, and we have identified a number of interesting and valuable potential products which we will continue to explore.
Following use of a medicine taken to prevent, cure, or alleviate a medical condition, the pharmaceuticals inevitable enter the environment via patient excretion. Phelimin is made of synthetic polymer which is only degraded very slowly. It does, however, not contain plasticizer or other chemical additives that could cause serious harm to the environment. The only concern is thus that the MIPs particles themselves might end up in nature. The degree to which this might happen depends on the efficiency of the wastewater treatment plants in a given location. Most waste treatment facilities effectively reduce the concentration of microplastic in the wastewater and only a minor part ends up as microplastic emission to the aquatic environment. The majority of the microplastic entering the waste treatment facilities does, however, end up in the sludge which is commonly used as fertilizer by farmers. While this is a cause of concern, a Danish study indicates that the impact of microplastic in sludge on sludge-fertilized farmlands is low and that other sources – e.g. windborne litter – might be more significant when it comes to explaining the accumulation of microplastic in farmland soils (read more). As sewage treatment technologies are continuously improving, the level of microplastic in sludge could potentially be decreasing. Compared to other sources of microplastic emission such as clothes washing, the contribution of Phelimin to the overall emission will be inconsequential.
Equipment
Whenever possible, we purchase our machines and equipment second hand. From our perspective, recycling equipment is an important part of creating a production that is sustainable and has as low an impact on environment as possible.