Our Green Chemistry Program: Commitments and Actions

Pfizer is finding innovative ways to ease our impact on the environment during manufacturing and is continuing to "green" the process.

Goals and commitments:

• Continue developing and applying Green Chemistry practices
• Share Green Chemistry knowledge within our organization, as well as by educating current and future generations of scientists and engineers
• Apply innovative science to improve world health

Notable projects embracing Green Chemistry principles:

• "Naturalizing" Lyrica^®: Taking advantage of nature's own chemical catalysts (enzymes) through biocatalysis. The enzymatic synthesis of pregabalin will save more than 200,000 metric tons of chemical waste between 2007 and 2020.
• "Greening" Lipitor^®: Manufacturing atorvastatin with a new biocatalysis process that yields significant energy savings by changing the temperature at which a reaction is performed.
• Designed away 25,000 tons of waste per year in the manufacture of Vfend^®, an antifungal medication, through a green chemistry modification in manufacturing. This novel chemistry was among finalists in 2006 for the Crystal Faraday Award.

Teams promote Green Chemistry principles through outreach activities:

• Onsite workshops and site visits for advanced undergraduate and graduate students and their professors
• Green Chemistry teaching curricula for middle and high schools to promote chemistry's role in addressing environmental concerns
• Creation of a Green Chemistry Solvent Guide magnet
• Publication of scientific papers and interviews in professional journals highlighting green chemistry benefits
• Partnership in an industry coalition working with scientists to find greener ways to do chemistry

• Return to the Green Chemistry main page
• Go to Pharmaceuticals in the Environment
• Watch a video about Pfizer's green chemistry program.

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