Environmental criteria in hospital pharmaceuticals procurement: Views from the pharmaceutical industry

Sustainability and environmental responsibility have become a focal point in society and in the pharmaceutical sector. Pharmaceutical residues enter the environment through multiple pathways, the primary source being the therapeutic use of medicines. To enhance environmental sustainability, it is essential to reduce the release of pharmaceutical residues into the environment. This can be achieved through multiple measures such as the rational use of medicines, more efficient wastewater treatment technologies and development of benign-by-design pharmaceuticals. Emphasizing environmental impacts in hospital procurement processes can drive pharmaceutical companies to adopt more sustainable practices in their operations.

In 2023, environmental criteria were included for the first time in the pharmaceutical procurement tenders of HUS (the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa, Finland). As sustainability criteria are likely to become increasingly important in the future, and the cooperation among countries is anticipated to grow in tenders, we considered it elementary to assess the pharmaceutical industry’s view on the application of environmental criteria in a public procurement process. The study was conducted as a cross-sectional online survey of company representatives who participated in the HUS procurement tendering process in 2023. A total of 21 experts responded to the survey, resulting in a response rate of 24 %. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the numerical data, while qualitative content analysis was used for the open-ended questions.

The environmental criteria of HUS were perceived easy to understand (the mean Likert scale was 4.48 out of 5) but there had been difficulties in obtaining the answers to the questions indicated by 12 out of 21 respondents). In the open responses, the experts highlighted the importance of uniform criteria, which would reduce the time and the workload involved in participating in different tenders. The criteria were preferred to be prepared internationally with different stakeholders. Procurements’ environmental criteria were seen as one possible tool of advancing sustainability of pharmaceutical manufacturing. As no previous survey is available, this research brings valuable information for the future procurement processes and assists in developing environmental criteria further.