"So far, they've been manufactured using a technique called "solid phase peptide synthesis," or SPPS, which anchors the first amino acid building block to a synthetic resin, such as polystyrene beads. Toxic solvents - including dimethylformamide, a component of paint strippers - are then used to add each amino acid one by one, which can then leak into the water supply."
"The scale of the issue is considerable. As the lead author of the Nature Sustainability paper and University of Melbourne chemistry professor John Wade wrote in a piece about his research, the annual production of semaglutide, the active ingredient in popular weight loss drugs such as Ozempic, is currently generating upwards of 123 million pounds of toxic solvent waste. And that's just one of more than 80 peptide-based drugs on the market."
Widespread use of GLP-1 agonist peptide drugs for weight loss and other treatments increases demand for peptide production. Standard manufacturing via solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) uses synthetic resins like polystyrene beads and toxic organic solvents such as dimethylformamide, producing persistent plastic byproducts and solvent waste that can contaminate water supplies. Annual semaglutide production alone generates over 123 million pounds of toxic solvent waste, and more than 80 peptide-based drugs add to the cumulative burden. Materials are costly and heavily regulated for disposal. More environmentally friendly peptide-synthesis procedures could substantially reduce solvent and plastic waste and improve long-term sustainability.
Read at Futurism
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