Pharmaceuticals in the Environment (PiE)

Clients in the pharmaceutical sector face complex challenges involving environmental wastewater and water management, infrastructure, and environmental remediation. Pharmaceuticals in the environment (PiE) are central to these challenges.

Evaluate PiE Impacts Throughout Your Supply Chain.

On behalf of clients, Geosyntec uses our experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors to design and implement specialized solutions these challenging environmental issues present, with a critical focus on PiE. We have conducted more than 300 impact assessments for our clients and have developed a quantitative method for a cost-effective PiE impact desktop study approach specifically for evaluating potential PiE impacts related to a client’s manufacturing supply chain.

Reduce Potential Liabilities through Sound Process Engineering.

Geosyntec’s process engineering and design specialists support clients from initial concept development and engineering design to construction, start-up, validation, and operation. We also optimize existing processes in pharmaceutical manufacturing and recommend point-of-generation treatment alternatives that help clients reduce potential liabilities related to PiE.

Quantify Risks Related to Releases of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients.

Our specialists assess PiE-related risks related to active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) releases into process wastewater, off-site wastewater treatment plants, and receiving waters such as rivers, bays, and the oceans from API manufacturers and liquid- and solid-dose drug product facilities. To do this, we quantify the API predicted environmental concentration. Using this data and the appropriate predicted no effect concentration criteria, we compute the risk quotient to quantify the relative PiE-related risk in that environmental medium.

Address Risks to You and Your Suppliers. Identify Potential Source Areas.

In conjunction with our PiE impact desktop study approach, we derive accurate risk quotients for APIs, with the ultimate goal of eliminating PiE. Our practitioners also bring expertise in identifying potential PiE sources within the manufacturing space. Our qualified team can conduct a coordinated site audit against these technical elements and to verify the results of the desktop impact study assessment and track potential source areas of PiE.

Understand Potential Ecotoxicological Effects of Pharmaceutical Compounds and Personal Care Products.

Our ecotoxicologists assess the potential ecotoxicological effects of pharmaceutical compounds and personal care products on nontarget aquatic and terrestrial biota, integrating potential unintended risks to ecological resources across increasing levels of biological organization. We work with universities, commercial laboratories, and nonprofits to design and complete ecological toxicity testing in support of our ecological risk assessments. In addition, we design and evaluate toxicological studies, analyze and interpret toxicity testing data, and develop and evaluate toxicity values, including predicted no effect concentrations, species sensitivity distributions, no observed effect concentrations, and hazard effect concentrations.