Gesundheit Österreich cordially invites to a webinar on the topic of greener pharmaceuticals. The event takes place in the framework of the European Public Health Week – Health is a political choice and is held as part of Horizon Europe ASCERTAIN. Please register here.
Pharmaceuticals play an important role in transitioning towards a planetary health approach: they currently make up a large share of the carbon footprint of health systems, and their manufacturing and improper disposal can negatively impact on finely balanced eco systems. These negative impacts pose challenges for achieving sustainable health care, but they also provide opportunities for introducing policies that make the production, procurement, and use of pharmaceuticals more environmentally friendly.
This webinar will provide a platform to learn about a range of policies along the pharmaceutical value chain which can mitigate the detrimental effects of pharmaceuticals on the environment. The webinar will focus on policy measures that already exist as part of pharmaceutical systems, including health technology assessment (HTA) and public procurement of medicines, and will explore how these can be used to transition towards more sustainable health systems. Participants will learn about recent research into assessing environmental impacts of pharmaceuticals and will hear about the experience of three countries (Austria, Denmark and the United Kingdom) in introducing policies and initiatives to promote “greener” pharmaceuticals.
PROGRAMME (titles of presentations are tentative)
- The role of pharmaceuticals in achieving net zero: greener pharmaceuticals in the UK
Nadine Henderson (Office of Health Economics)
- What role for environmental impacts of pharmaceuticals in HTA? Overview of an evolving evidence landscape
Oliver Gröne (OptiMedis / University Witten/Herdecke)
- Green criteria in the public procurement of medicines: experience from national tenders in Denmark and the joint Nordic tenders
Sofie Pedersen (Amgros)
- Transitioning towards an environmentally sustainable health system: experience from Austria
Ruperta Lichtenecker (GÖG - Austrian National Public Health Institute)
- Welcoming and moderation
Maximilian Salcher-Konrad (GÖG - Austrian National Public Health Institute)
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Nadine Henderson is a Principal Economist at the Office of Health Economics in London. Her research interests centre around the measurement of the value of health and healthcare, resource allocation decisions and the environmental sustainability of the pharmaceutical industry and health systems. She holds an MSc in Health Economics from the University of York and a BSc in Economics from Lancaster University.
Prof. Dr. Oliver Gröne, PhD MSc, is Vice Chairman of the Board at OptiMedis AG, responsible for the areas Analytics, Research & Innovation. He is also Co-Founder and Director Population Health of OptiMedis-COBIC UK. From 2011 to 2015 he was Senior Lecturer in Health Services Research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he developed novel methods for assessing and improving the quality of care. As senior methodologist at the Royal College of Surgeons of England he led the implementation of large-scale national clinical audits on the quality and safety of care, in particular the field oesophago-gastric cancer. Prior to that, he led the “Quality of Health Systems” Programme at the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe and served as Director of Research & Education at the Avedis Donabedian Institute, Autonomous University of Barcelona. He is a regular contributor to top-tier journals and was associate editor of the International Journal for Quality in Health Care from 2015-2020.
Sofie Pedersen is an Environmental Senior Specialist in Amgros, the Centralized Procurement Organization for hospital medicines in Denmark, owned by the Danish Health Regions. Sofie is responsible for Amgros' sustainability strategy and works tirelessly on promoting sustainability in Amgros' business and daily operations through dialogue and collaboration with colleagues and stakeholders at Amgros. Sofie has 15+ years of experience with sustainable business strategies, sustainable public procurement, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustaina-ble development focusing on rights from public sector, private sector and civil society.
Ruperta Lichtenecker, PhD has been Head of Department of the Competence Center Climate and Health – Department Climate Neutrality and Sustainable Transformation at Gesundheit Österreich GmbH since March 2022. Ruperta Lichtenecker has more than 30 years of experience as an economist, researcher, manager and supervisor in the fields of science, administration, economics and politics. She is the author of publications on the environment, climate, health, research and innovation and holds a master’s degree and PhD in macroeconomics from the Johannes Kepler University Linz.
We look forward to your participation via Zoom and request online registration. Participation is free of charge. The Webinar starts at 3 pm.