The increasing attention to the problem of environmental impact of human activities, with the aim to reduce pollution and curb climate change, requires the revision of all the chemical processes. 

While substituting hazardous chemicals with alternatives may be feasible in other industries, pharmaceutical active ingredients (APIs) cannot undergo structural modifications due to therapeutic specificity requirements. 

Thus, greening the manufacturing processes represents the exclusive route that can be followed to increase sustainability. Moving from traditional industrial protocols to new methodologies, able to limit the use of solvents, excess of reagents and energy consumption, affording anyway the required grade of purity, is the major challenge in this context. Although modifying already established processes involves the need for a great work in terms of regulatory issues, many companies are exploring new green processes to replace old ones.

Moreover, the goal of a modern and environmentally friendly approach to chemical processes in pharmaceutical industry may also lead to a decrease in production costs and open access to affordable healthcare for to third world countries. 

This special issue calls for contributions both from academia and industry, aiming to collect models of sustainability in the production of pharmaceutical treatments.

Keywords: Green chemistry, pharmaceutical processes, oligopeptides, oligonucleotides, palladium, drug discovery, drug development