HK inno.N(195940) said on the 7th that the gastroesophageal reflux disease treatment "K-CAB" became the world's first to obtain an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) in the oral finished drug category.
HK inno.N received the certificate for K-CAB tablets 50 mg at an EPD certificate awarding ceremony held on the 2nd (local time) in Oslo, Norway. The event was co-hosted by the international EPD platform "EPD Global" and the Institute of Global Sustainability Certification (IGSC).
An EPD is a system that quantifies, according to international standards, the environmental impact that occurs throughout a product's entire life cycle from raw material production to manufacturing and distribution, and discloses it after third-party verification.
The EPD for K-CAB tablets 50 mg was registered with EPD Global in June this year. Before that, IGSC conducted independent verification based on ISO 14025.
HK inno.N conducted a life cycle assessment (LCA) of K-CAB tablets 50 mg under ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. The assessment scope covered from active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing to finished drug manufacturing, packaging, and distribution. It did not include post-administration by patients and the disposal stage.
In the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, adoption of EPDs had been limited due to the lack of environmental calculation standards tailored to medicines. The British Standards Institution (BSI) published "PAS 2090:2025," an international standard product category rules (PCR) for environmental assessment of pharmaceuticals, in Nov. last year. HK inno.N applied the standard to obtain the EPD for K-CAB tablets 50 mg.
HK inno.N said the certification will allow the company to provide environmental information by product to overseas clients and buyers. As demands rise for calculating carbon emissions across supply chains and for environmental due diligence, the company can use EPDs as documentation to respond to ESG-related requirements.
An HK inno.N official said, "It is a meaningful ESG outcome for the K-pharma and biotech industry that we secured an EPD for K-CAB tablets 50 mg immediately after a standard for pharmaceutical life cycle assessment was established," adding, "We will expand environmental assessments to major products and advance our environmental information management system across the product portfolio."
Meanwhile, K-CAB is a P-CAB class treatment for gastroesophageal reflux disease developed by HK inno.N. It has been launched in 20 countries, including Korea, and has entered 55 countries through technology exports and finished product exports.