Sustainable pharmacy for training and education of pharmacy professionals.

Sustainability and environmental aspects of medicines are generally omitted in pharmacy curricula, despite the recognized burden of the pharmaceutical footprint. Pharmaceutical footprint refers to the societal, economic and environmental impact of pharmaceutical pollution produced during manufacture, distribution, prescription, consumption and waste management of medicines. In order to mitigate the impact of the pharmaceutical sector, a new educational approach based on Sustainable Pharmacy is required. Sustainable Pharmacy integrates education, society, economy, pharmacology, culture and environment into Pharmaceutical Sciences. Current and future drug professionals should receive comprehensive training that includes sustainable aspects across all main disciplines that constitute pharmaceutical science. In the current article, the following six pharmacy disciplines are revisited from a Sustainable Pharmacy perspective: pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmaceutics, pharmacology, pharmaceutical care, public health and pharmacoepidemiology, and drug legislation. Each section provides essential information about the pharmaceutical footprint of medicines, to facilitate understanding of the problem and enable sustainable pharmacy practices. Aside from the essential aspects of the environmental impact, the article compiles additional sources that can serve both as inspiration and as tools for developing training exercises. Furthermore, it introduces new concepts, such as LADME+, lysophore and sustainable and rational use of medicines that can further aid the education of pharmacists. The provided information may be used to inform the integration of environmental considerations into various subjects, or to update current pharmacy curricula to include these aspects.