Innovation and Sustainability: Bracco’s vision for a sustainable tomorrow

1) Innovation as a driver of sustainability - How does Bracco's innovation strategy support sustainability? What is the company's vision in this regard?

At Bracco, we believe that sustainability is a corporate responsibility that is deeply embedded in our innovation strategy.

Sustainability is integrated into every part of our business, ensuring that innovation is a key driver in addressing both environmental and social challenges.

To achieve this, we have set ambitious goals, including achieving carbon neutrality in our own operations by 2030.

This commitment is reflected in a dedicated innovation program focused on developing solutions that minimize environmental impact while maintaining the highest standards of quality and safety.

Bracco takes a holistic approach to sustainability throughout the product value chain. This means identify sustainability risks and opportunities at every step of the products lifecycle, design and implement solutions and best practices to minimize our environmental impact, and adopt circular principles to reduce waste and resource consumption.

2) Sustainability throughout the value chain - What efforts Bracco have been made to reduce environmental impact and improve sustainability of the products?

We actively invest in innovative solutions to reduce our environmental footprint while ensuring the highest levels of product performance and safety.

In this respect, one of the most significant area is represented by the continuous improvement of our manufacturing processes.

Bracco innovation is constantly working to improve processes following a green chemistry  and low environmental impact approach.

The introduction of green and eco-friendly solvents with low environmental impact, the selection of low-energy consumption equipment, the minimization of waste production and the increase of processes effectiveness are the key pillars of Bracco approach to process innovation.

All these activities are at the core of Bracco process innovation program that is structured with a strong interaction within R&D and the manufacturing sites.

Indeed, we have successfully integrated these innovations into our manufacturing plants and, over the past five years, we have reduced waste generation by 40%.

Waste management in manufacturing site is another important aspect. One of our most impactful initiatives is the implementation of reverse osmosis technology, which has reduced the presence of trace amounts of contrast media in wastewater by 97%.

Bracco is also driving sustainability in packaging with research initiatives that include the development of eco-designed primary packaging and the evaluation of environmentally friendly materials for secondary packaging.

Another important point is the development of innovative product solutions for sustainability. Vueway™, one of our key innovations, enables a lower dose administration of gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) while maintaining high diagnostic performance. Dose-reduction strategies play a critical role in minimizing the presence of GBCA in water systems.

Through these efforts, we continue to lead the way in sustainable innovation, shaping the future of radiology with environmentally responsible solutions.

3) Circular economy - Bracco is committed to sustainable resource management. How do you approach circular economy principles and what are the key points of your strategy?

Our approach consists in integrating circular economy principles into all operations to ensure sustainable management. We focus on optimizing the efficiency of resources, minimizing waste, and promoting the reuse and recycling of materials wherever possible.

We achieved significant results in the circular management of resources: at our active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing facility, we achieved over 96% solvent recovery, significantly reducing waste and environmental impact.

The same circular approach is applied for continuously refine processes to recover and reuse raw materials and iodine from production waste, reducing dependence on virgin materials and improving resource circularity.

The commitment to circular economy principles is demonstrated through initiatives such as Re.Viva, an unused products take back program which ensures responsible end-of-life management of our products and reduces overall environmental impact.

Through these initiatives, Bracco not only improves the sustainability of chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing, but also contributes to a more responsible and circular healthcare industry.

4) Showcasing sustainability - You recently presented a project at ECR2025 Could you tell us more about it? Why is it a relevant example of Bracco's commitment to sustainability?

One of the key point to address contrast media sustainability is to find innovative solutions to manage their end-of-life with the aim to reduce their presence in the environmental water bodies. A significant source of contrast media in surface water is represented by urinary excretion from patients.

With the aim to implement technical solutions to reduce the contrast media presence in environmental water, Bracco recently started a collaboration with Zereau, a Dutch company that developed specific devices for the collection and the filtration of urine from patient administered with contrast media

The collaboration is aimed at the implementation of procedures for the recollection of contrast media from patients urine. The idea is to create an European network of hospitals  equipped with collecting and filtrating devices in their radiology wards.

Patients will be asked to use the devices for their urine collection after the diagnostic procedure. Filters, designed to effectively remove contrast media from urine, will be saturated with contrast media and then removed and replaced by fresh filters.

Saturated filters will be treated for recovery precious raw materials, such as iodine, and refurbished.

In this way, a sustainability goal, by mitigating the presence of contrast media in environment, and a circularity goal, by raw materials recovery, can be achieved.
If the pilot will be successful, this approach should be then applied to establish a sustainability best practice to be implemented at hospitals level.

5) Bracco's perspective on innovation and sustainability - In a few words, what does innovation mean to Bracco and how does it relate to sustainability?

At Bracco, we truly believe that true innovation comes from listening deeply and completely to people's needs. The focus of innovation should be on the well-being and progress of humanity.

That's why we have always sought and worked to find new solutions and ways to improve people's lives.

It is also why innovation is closely linked to sustainability. Finding sustainable solutions to respect our environment, managing our resources with the awareness that they are scarce and therefore with a strong approach to circularity, and finally equipping ourselves with increasingly clean energy, are just some of the points that show how innovation and sustainability go hand to hand. This is our commitment, Bracco's commitment, to do more every day for the well-being of patients and all of us.