AstraZeneca signs deal with Honeywell for inhaler with near-zero global warming impact
AstraZeneca has signed a partnership with Honeywell to develop next-generation respiratory inhalers that have up to 99.9 per cent less global warming potential (GWP) than propellants currently used.
The Cambridge-headquartered biopharmaceutical form has also unveiled its annual sustainability report, which shows that all the imported electricity it uses now comes from renewable sources.
It has made a 59 per cent reduction since 2015 on scope one and two greenhouse gas emissions, including the integration of rare disease business Alexion.
CEO Pascal Soriot said: ”We are making great progress on our ambition to be zero carbon across our global operations by the end of 2025 and carbon negative across our entire value chain by 2030. Our collaboration with Honeywell demonstrates AstraZeneca’s commitment to advancing sustainable healthcare innovation, with the aim of improving outcomes for patients while reducing our environmental footprint.”
Millions of patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) use pressurised metered dose inhalers (pMDIs) that contain small quantities of a type of greenhouse gas, which acts as the propellant to deliver the medicine into the lungs.
But results from the first in-human phase I trial of the near-zero GWP propellant HFO-1234ze in an inhaler containing budesonide, glycopyrronium, formoterol fumarate in healthy adults were positive.
They demonstrating similar safety, tolerability and systemic exposure of the active ingredients compared to Breztri Aerosphere (budesonide/glycopyrronium/ formoterol fumarate).
AstraZeneca said it expects Breztri to be the first medicine to switch to this new platform, subject to regulatory approval. It will continue to offer dry powder inhaled medicines.
Darius Adamczyk, chairman and CEO of Honeywell, said: “The work we are doing with AstraZeneca developing a respiratory inhaler, with a new near-zero global warming potential propellant, is tremendously important for both the environment and patients with respiratory issues. Our goal is to reduce respiratory healthcare carbon emissions without restricting patient choice or risking improvement in health outcomes.”
AstraZeneca - one of the first seven companies globally to have its net zero targets verified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) - is aiming for 95 per cent of its key suppliers and partners to have science-based targets by the end of 2025.
Meanwhile, on March 1, Alexion announced an exclusive global collaboration and licence agreement with Neurimmune AG for NI006, an investigational human monoclonal antibody currently in phase Ib development for the treatment of transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM).
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