Neuvior wins grant to tackle pharmaceutical sector waste with York scheme
Work aiming to cut down waste in pharmaceutical production and make the processes more environmentally friendly in York has received a boost after the firm behind it won a new grant.
Neuvior Pharmaceuticals Ltd has been awarded a feasibility grant from Innovate UK under its Resource Efficiency for Resilience and Sustainability competition.
The company has developed ZYLON, a commercial programme focused on recovering material from pharmaceutical manufacturing processes and developing smarter, bio-based packaging materials that could replace harder-to-recycle formats.
Developed under an Innovate UK-funded feasibility project, the company said the programme would support early-stage work to explore how pharmaceutical production can become more circular, less wasteful, and lower carbon.
Speaking on the announcement, Varun Cruz, founder of Neuvior, said: “ZYLON is about turning early-stage ideas into real, testable data. This feasibility work allows us to validate core assumptions in a live lab environment and define a credible path toward more circular pharmaceutical manufacturing.”
Neuvior said the award represents “an important feasibility-stage validation, providing an initial public proof point for the concept with future customers, partners, and investors”.
The firm said that following the award, it has moved from a funded concept into early lab execution.
Clean-chemistry feasibility trials are currently being conducted at the Biorenewables Development Centre in York, using their pilot-scale, bioprocessing centre for technical support and feasibility trials.
Mark Gronnow, process development team Lead at the Biorenewables Development Centre (BDC) said: “The BDC is happy to support Neuvior on their development journey of an exciting biobased product range.
“Being able to rapidly and flexibly support innovators with facilities and resources is one of our specialisms.”
The trials are focused on lab execution and the generation of baseline data, exploring bio-derived inputs and takling risks for potential approaches that could underpin more circular pharmaceutical manufacturing systems.
The trial will be led by Dr Carlos Bueno Alejo and will conclude on Tuesday, April 21.
Speaking on the trial, Dr Bueno Alejo said: “I’m excited to participate in this interesting feasibility project that could have a great impact in how pharmaceutical products are manufactured in a more sustainable way”.
Neuvior said the current phase of work is focused on feasibility, prototyping, and early-stage trials, with the aim of informing future development and defining a credible pathway to scale.