#1: Coordinating responses to online misinformation on excipients, additives and medicines

Consumers are increasingly taking personal health decisions into their own hands. More and more, people are relying on information from websites and social media, which opens them up to health misinformation and fraud. Misinformation and fraud manifest as anti-science sentiments, distortions of health claims as well as unsubstantiated claims on safety and quality of medicines and/or formulation additives. This can lead to serious public health consequences, as we have recently witnessed with a decrease in vaccination rates and outbreaks of disease.

The Excipients Business Forum is working with industry to formulate a meaningful response to widespread misinformation online. This work includes a range of campaigns and coordinated strategies aimed at countering false content as well as deploying tools such as PR, public education and engagement aimed at addressing, debunking or responding to fake information.

#2: Addressing the apparent lack of innovation in the Excipients Industry

A dynamic pharmaceutical excipients sector is not only central to the sector’s global competitiveness, but it also plays a key role to the pharmaceutical industry R&D productivity. While the Excipients Business Forum recognises that the private sector is strongest engine for innovation, governments play a major role too, for instance, through support for basic research and creating new knowledge, training of future scientists and fostering a climate for innovation.

To this end, the Excipients Business Forum is committed to supporting efforts aimed at:

• Promoting sustained government investments in R&D, science infrastructure, and industrial innovation to enhance the excipients sector global competitiveness.

• Accelerating the development and commercialization of new technologies that promote health, environmental sustainability, and sector growth.

• Fostering tax and trade policies that improve the competitiveness of our members.

• Strengthening the ability of worldwide legal systems to co-operatively encourage innovation through intellectual property protection.

#3: Championing Excipients Industry Sustainability

Sustainability cuts across many programs and groups both within the public and private sector. In the excipients sector, sustainability relates to every aspect of excipients production, distribution, use and resource use, and energy use, and is pivotal to the industry’s future. Failing this long-term perspective and implementation of programs consistent with it risks public goodwill as well as  associated economic, human health, social, and ecosystem impacts.

The Excipients Business Forum is committed to good safety, health and environmental management as an integral part of the excipient industry’s activities. Our work is aimed at:

• Encouraging decisions that promote sustainable resource usage and waste prevention.

• Fostering the development and adoption of green products and processes by industry, academia, and government.

• Assuring appropriate, balanced use of voluntary and regulatory measures in achieving environmental, health, safety, and security goals and promote the responsible use of science in environmental management.

• Encouraging appropriate global harmonization of environmental, health, and safety initiatives to promote science and technology around the globe.

• Supporting risk assessments based on sound science and protective of human health and environment.

• Supporting the commercial enterprise to provide the information necessary to conduct risk assessments while protecting confidential business information.