IMPACTIVE: European mechanochemists develop greener pharmaceuticals
Innovation PitchPharmaceuticalsGreen ChemistryMechanochemistrySustainability
2025-06-05 | 11:25 AM - 11:40 AM | The Innovation Corner
Information
Mechanochemistry uses mechanical force to drive chemical reactions. In the past few years, this field has experienced a resurgence in Europe, in part thanks to the support of EU-funding bodies to different collaborative initiatives and networks,[1] but also thanks to the additional awareness about the environmental impact of chemistry.
In 2022, the international project IMPACTIVE kicked off with a clear goal: making mechanochemistry a manufacturing reality in pharma. The most optimistic predictions expect an 85% reduction in the ecotoxicity of pharmaceutical production, including a significant reduction of energy consumption and carbon emissions, as well as production costs.[2] With almost €8 million in funding from Horizon Europe, IMPACTIVE gathers 17 partners, including key industries like Merck and Novartis, to ensure efficient technology transfer and early-adoption of the mechanochemistry solutions developed.
The overall goals of the project, which include the implementation of scalable mechanochemical methods (ball milling, extrusion, resonant acoustic mixing) to make the synthesis of antidiabetic, antihypertensive and anticancer drugs as well as formulation greener, will be presented. Additionally, the move to mechanochemistry will contribute to solving the supply chain shortage problems, improving the production of drugs during emergencies. The IMPACTIVE project will contribute to the chemistry community in Europe with innovative green synthetic methodologies and catalyse commercialisation.
IMPACTIVE project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme (European Health and Digital Executive Agency, HeDEA) under grant agreement No 101057286 (Innovative Mechanochemical Processes to synthesize green ACTIVE pharmaceutical ingredients, IMPACTIVE)
References
[1.] Sáenz de la Torre J.J.; Flamarique L.; Gomollon-Bel F.; Colacino E. Open Res. Europe 2025, 5, 73. DOI : 10.12688/openreseurope.19848.1
[2.] Galant, O.; Cerfeda, G.; McCalmont, A.S.; James, S.L.; Porcheddu, A.; Delogu, F.; Crawford, D.E.; Colacino, E.; Spatari, S. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2022, 10, 1430-1439.
