Early in my childhood in Olympia, I learned about a word that pretty much defined the moral code that my family members and friends followed to help preserve and protect our environment: ethos. 

Ethos has many definitions. But the way we defined ethos back then — and even today — is the fundamental spirit of a group to do greater good or to be a steward of goodwill. I still practice ethos today and so does the industry I work for. 

First, let me start by saying that America’s pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies believe that a medicine does no good if it is far out of reach for patients who need it most. For this reason, pharmaceutical companies have given away more than $10 billion in free medicines to more than 5.5 million uninsured and financially struggling patients in America — including nearly 94,000 patients in Washington — since 2005. This is pretty remarkable given the current economic environment we’re facing in America today. 

I have been personally touched by the dedication and determination of the researchers working at biopharmaceutical companies who help develop medicines and cures for the hundreds of millions of patients suffering from disease worldwide. 

Three of my family members live with Type 1 diabetes. The key word to stress is that they live with diabetes. The reason they are healthy and productive is because they better manage this disease through a variety of means: exercise, healthy eating and regularly taking their medicines. I can honestly say that all three means have helped them live longer lives but the medicine they take is what has allowed them to live. 

I think we can all agree that passing on a clean environment for future generations to enjoy is something public and private institutions should always strive toward. This goes back to ethos. This collective responsibility to protect our environment should move us all to pitch in and do the right thing. 

In the early 1990s, Al Gore championed legislation which required environmental assessments of new medicines to help determine whether a medicine’s ingredients would impact the environment. Companies must disclose whether or not their medicine would enter the environment at a concentration above one-part-per billion. 

The concentrations of pharmaceuticals reported in the environment — or more specifically, U.S. drinking waters — are generally at trace levels of nanograms per liter or parts-per-trillion. To put this into context, one part-per-trillion is about one second in 32,000 years or one penny in $10 billion. 

Why is this information relevant? Companies are doing their due diligence — and much more — to help protect the environment. And, despite what some public reports suggest, studies have shown that trace amounts of pharmaceuticals don’t pose a demonstrable risk of harm to human or aquatic life. 

And just how does such an incredibly miniscule amount of pharmaceuticals get into the environment? Two words: human waste. The human body metabolizes the medicine and returns it back into the environment. 

This takes me to the issue of unused medicines. If human waste is responsible for an overwhelming majority of the pharmaceutical ingredients getting into the environment, does having a drug take back program — which could allow patients to dispose of their unused medications at a local pharmacy — make sense? Even when such programs could lead to diversion and place additional burdens on local law enforcement?

In my opinion, the focus should be on why medicines go unused in the first place — perhaps lack of patient adherence to their prescription drug regimen. This is something that we must collectively consider to help ensure patients are adhering to a medicine that their physician prescribed so that they are better equipped to fight disease. 

What else are we doing to ensure product stewardship? We are currently working with D.A.R.E. to help raise awareness of prescription drug abuse with grade-schoolers. And, companies continue to highlight proper and safe disposal methods for unused medicines throughout the state of Washington through the SMARxT DISPOSAL program. Proper disposal methods do not include flushing medicines down the toilet. 

Clearly, ethos is a word we don’t take lightly and this is evident by the fact that America’s pharmaceutical research companies develop products that help patients live healthier lives and also play an important role in creating a better environment for all of us to live.