• Question: what is the difference in making evironmentally friendly medicines and how medicines are usually made?

    Asked by itsnaomi to Will, Vijay on 19 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by 1dlaura.
    • Photo: Will Reynolds

      Will Reynolds answered on 19 Jun 2012:

      Hi Naomi! Well actually its not the medicines themselves that are environmentally friendly, its just the way we make them. I am working on new ways to make complicated molecules that are more efficient and produce less waste than we do at the moment. Current ways of making them can produce as much as 100 kg of waste for every 1 kg of medicine. I am trying to reduce this by using catalysts, which speed up reactions and reduce waste, and light instead of heat to reduce energy use. Hopefully if they work, these new processes will be used to make the same medicines we have today but make them more environmentally friendly. Thanks for your question.

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