Madalena Fernandes1, 2, Angelo Araújo1, Inês Esteves Ribeiro2, & Nichal Gentilal1
1 Hovione FarmaCiência SA, Campus do Lumiar, Edifício R, Estrada do Paço do Lumiar, 1649-038, Portugal
2 Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1, 1049-001, Portugal
Summary
Healthcare contributes approximately 4–5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with a substantial share linked to pharmaceutical products. However, few studies provide detailed environmental impact data across the full life cycle of inhalation devices. This study presents a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) of two Dry Powder Inhalers (DPIs) from Hovione’s portfolio: PowdAir © (multi-use) and the larger version of the marketed TwinCaps© single-use DPI: TwinMax DPI. The functional unit, defined in SimaPro, was one delivered dose containing 250 µg of jet milled fluticasone propionate blended at 2.5% w/w with lactose. Results highlighted a clear benefit of multi-use devices as they benefit from amortizing device-related emissions across doses, with transport (42%), capsule packaging (24%), and device manufacturing (10%) emerging as key contributors. In contrast, the single-use device incurs higher per-dose burdens due to its disposable nature—each dose scenario involves a new device, leading to repeated device packaging (57%) and manufacturing (29%) impacts. Drug product manufacturing contributed only with 5% of total emissions for PowdAir © and 2% for TwinMax DPI. Scenario analyses indicated that packaging substitutions and exploring transportation alternatives can reduce footprint, though improvements may remain technically constrained.