Contributing to the preservation of the environment through sustainable processes is increasingly demanded of industries by governments and international organizations.
Producing in a more reasonable manner and having strategies that contribute to the protection of the planet are priorities in a company today, something that Roche Pharma has understood quite well, due to the initiatives it has developed to comply with environmental protection.
For the pharmaceutical industry, these initiatives are as important as the innovation of their medicines, according to Fernando Víquez, Roche Ecosystem leader in the Dominican Republic, in an interview for HOY.
He said that at Roche they have proactively assumed environmental protection as one of the commitments of their 2024-2027 sustainable strategy, which revolves around three dimensions: environment, social and corporate governance.
He specified that his commitments for the year 2027 for the subsidiary in the Caribbean, Central America and Venezuela, in the environmental dimension, highlight the annual decrease in electricity consumed per employee of 5%; reduction in fossil fuel consumed and reduction in the carbon footprint of the distribution chain by units sold by 10%.
In addition, he said that they aim to reduce the annual amount of non-valued waste that goes to landfill by 10% and the annual reduction of water consumed per employee by 5% cubic meters.
“We reuse 100% of the packaging for the cold chain of our shipments to 24 countries in the Caribbean, Central America and Venezuela region; and during 2023 we achieved that 76% of the waste generated by the organization was valued through recycling, composting and co-processing actions,” he highlighted.
Regarding social initiatives, the company specified, the strategy is to address the patient in a comprehensive manner, that is, to improve the early detection of a disease, diagnosis and treatment.
“This has a financial impact on the Health System, but also at a socioeconomic level for the patient,” said Víquez.
He gave the example that with the Rosa Emilia Sánchez Pérez de Tavares National Cancer Institute (Incart), they have collaborated to install diagnostic equipment that speeds up time and costs.
“Today the Incart Pathology Department can test locally. Previously, the tests had to be sent to another country and it took up to 20 days. With this we are working with breast cancer, but the idea is that soon we will move to lung cancer,” he added.
The Roche executive assured that the company does not have a defined budget for the strategy of sustainabilitybecause for them the important thing is not to define a budget, but rather where the conditions exist to implement alliances that contribute to society and the environment.
“It will depend on the needs of the system,” he noted.
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