(Credit: Honeywell)AstraZeneca, a company that specializes in the treatment of respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), is working to incorporate Honeywell's Solstice Air technology, which is being evaluated for use as a medical propellant and has up to 99.9% less GWP than propellants currently used in inhaled respiratory medicines.
This non-flammable, near-zero GWP, non-ozone-depleting, volatile organic compound propellant is in clinical development today for pressurized metered-dose inhalers (pMDIs). Solstice Air, a near-zero global-warming-potential (GWP) medical propellant for use in respiratory inhalers and developed by Honeywell, will be manufactured in a plant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Today’s healthcare organizations face a rapidly accelerating suite of climate and ESG-related challenges, including rising energy costs, physical disruptions, and a list of ever-increasing expectations from investors and regulators as well as doctors, patients, and communities.
Until recently, ESG and sustainability topics felt secondary to the core missions of patient care and organizational survival, but it’s become increasingly clear that these topics are intimately linked to the success of those core missions.
The healthcare industry is a major source of carbon emissions, and recent research by The World Bank and Health Care Without Harm estimates the sector’s emissions at over 2 gigatons, or roughly 4% to 5% of the world’s total. In turn, these emissions can be important social determinants of health, aggravating respiratory and cardiovascular disease, causing injuries from natural and weather-related disasters, altering the distribution of food resources, and changing patterns in illness and infectious diseases.
Honeywell has invested more than $1 billion in research, development and new capacity for its Solstice technology, having anticipated the need for lower-GWP solutions to combat climate change more than a decade ago. The Solstice product line, which helps customers lower their greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency without sacrificing end-product performance, includes refrigerants for supermarkets, air conditioning for cars and trucks, blowing agents for insulation, propellants for personal and household care, and solvents for cleaning solutions.
