The ETERNAL project provides the setting for a new podcast produced by New Scientist with the support of UK Government about UK-Spanish collaboration. The podcast features an extended interview with researchers from IRIS Technology Solutions who are pioneering digitalisation elements within ETERNAL's industrial case studies, including those with Arcinova (a Quotient Sciences company) and Astra Zeneca.

“International collaboration, supported by Horizon Europe Funding, is the crucial ingredient in reducing the environmental footprint of medicines,” according to Dr Laura Rodriguez and Dr Andrés Cruz, both from IRIS Technology Solutions, in conversation with science journalist James Randerson. “We consider the UK as a leader in excellent science and innovation so of course having them on board for proposals and projects for us is crucial.”

ETERNAL seeks to minimise the environmental footprint of the pharmaceutical industry by rethinking the entire life cycle of medicines—from the moment a molecule is designed to how a patient disposes of the leftover pills. In pursuit of that goal, IRIS has worked with UK companies Arcinova and the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, as well as other UK partners in Britest Limited and the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

IRIS having been working with Arcinova on a real-time monitoring solution for chemical processes using Raman spectroscopy to fingerprinti and monitor chemical reactions while they are in progress, allowing more control and therefore less waste, and on a digital twin of innovative low-energy membrane purification and solvent-recovery processes being developed and applied at Astra Zeneca.

The free flow of ideas between participants in the collaboration has been crucial to this success, says Dr Rory MacDonald at Arcinova. “All partners, I think, have just been completely open.” That openness will outlive the formal end of the ETERNAL project in August because much of the data will be put in the public domain. “It will be delivering benefits in terms of reduced environmental impact with all the various partner companies that have worked here,”

You can watch the podcast in full here (27’38” in English with Spanish subtitles) along with a detailed article summarizing and complementing the podcast.