GlaxoSmithKline

The visit to GSK today was simply amazing. It was the first time I saw a pharmaceutical factory and the complexity of the machinery and the all so many steps needed to create a molecule from smaller molecule blew me away.

I was exposed to the developmental stages of drugs after they leave the laboratory and needs to be scaled up, mechanized, and automated. It is certainly a tough process as there will be many complex problems encountered during this development process. This made me appreciate the little tablet of panadol that drives the headache away as so much work and effort are put to make such a product.

One field that sparked my interest is the presentation on sustainability. There are many huge goals that many companies, including GSK, are trying to implement to help save the environment and I am very relieved to see so many people trying so hard to save the world. Although the efforts are commendable, I feel that the things done is simply not enough to mitigate climate change. One example that was given of a sustainable product is apple’s ipad 2. Although armed with many features that save some electricity to some extent, the whole product is still highly not sustainable. contrary to the presentation.  Although the ipad 2 has many features, but the unveiling of yet another product every few months by apple will undoubtly cause the consumers to want purchase this products and dispose of their previous, “lousy” products. However, this endless chain/ loop of consumerism that many companies and economies promote is destroying the earth. For every upgrade to an ipad 2, although a few watts of power could be saved, but for every upgrade to an ipad 2, one ipad is disposed of before its life is up, and the environmental cost of producing an ipad is far greater than the small savings switching to an ipad 2 would do. Therefore, it is still highly not sustainable, no matter how nice apple packaged the story and the specs, only 1 side of the story is told.


A project that could be done related to GSK is to find out new ways to capture and recycle/reuse/purify the waste chemicals that are used to process the pharmaceutical products in order to make the plant and our planet a more sustainable one.

All in all, I feel that the trip had broadened my horizons, especially to the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector.

Simply to make life better. :D