Green chemistry is defined as “the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances/wastes, create inherently safer processes and increase process efficiency.” The application of green chemistry has become part of Schering-Plough’s DNA for the development of drug substances that will reduce or eliminate the use and/or generation of hazardous substances and environmental and human health risks. As processes and molecules become increasingly more complex with higher quality demand, the need also increases for the company to reduce its environmental footprint by using newer, sustainable chemistry methods.

Schering-Plough has made a strong commitment to sustainable chemistry, sharing green chemistry practices, integrating the program with colleagues around the world, encouraging Right First Time (RFT) principles in the development of new chemical synthesis, and continually advocating the reasons why it makes sense for the company to apply the 12 principles in its operations.

Schering-Plough Research Institute (SPRI) Chemical & Physical Sciences (CPS) and Global Safety and Environmental Affairs (GSEA) co-hosted the company's Second Sustainable (Green) Chemistry Symposium on October 2, 2008. The symposium was held for a half-day to allow participation from various R&D and manufacturing facilities in Europe, including the facilities from the legacy Organon BioSciences. Overall, more than 100 colleagues from various organizations and countries participated in the presentations and discussions.

With a theme "Turning Challenges into Green Opportunities," the symposium included seven technical presentations, covering a broad spectrum of green chemistry applications, as follows:

• Incorporation of Green Chemistry Principles for Process Development of Key Product
• Solvent Recovery: a Green Classic
• Use of Amine Oxidase Mediated Desymmetrization
• Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) as a Green Technology for Pharmaceutical Process Research
• Route to Clean and Green Peptides
• Continuous Distillation for Reducing Solvent Usage During Solvent Exchange and Water Removal in Organic Syntheses
• Use of Alternative Solvent in Discovery

The Green Chemistry Team, also known as the Green Chemistry Network of Excellence Core Team, meets on a quarterly basis to discuss and review green chemistry-related activities, and fosters continuous implementation of green chemistry throughout the company. Some of the activities sponsored by the team include Quarterly Green Chemistry Communication Forums, workshops and quantification of green chemistry application via a Process Sustainability Index (PSI) tool. Dr. Ingrid Mergelsberg, Ph.D., director, CPS, SPRI, a key member of the team, is also a co-chair of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute’s Pharmaceutical Roundtable, an organization of which Schering-Plough has been an active member since 2005.