HealthBeacon and Novartis launch Green Labs facility in Ireland to improve needle disposal

IRELAND –HealthBeacon plc, an Irish digital therapeutics company, has opened a new Green Labs facility in Dublin to help pharmaceutical companies develop circular economy solutions.

The facility will also serve as a research and development center for long-term solutions to sharps waste.

HealthBeacon is a leading Irish digital therapeutics company that creates products for patients to manage injectable medications at home.

The most recent peer-reviewed published evidence from the company demonstrated up to a 26% improvement in injectable medication adherence by patients using its technology.

According to the World Health Organization, approximately 16 billion injections are administered worldwide each year.

“Unfortunately, today billions of injectable waste devices and hundreds of millions of sharps bins end up in household trash, landfills or incineration facilities.”

HealthBeacon Green Labs is a positive step toward addressing the global challenge of managing patients’ waste in a sustainable manner and assisting pharmaceutical companies in adopting more sustainable waste management practices.

The company has already formed a partnership with leading pharmaceutical company Novartis Ireland to use the Green Labs to build a platform that will provide innovative sustainability solutions to Novartis patients quickly and easily.

The first chapter of this collaboration is the distribution of reusable sharps bins to patients in rheumatology, dermatology, and neurology.

Smart technology reminds patients to take their medications and alerts them when their sharps bin is nearly full.

The full sharps bin is then collected from the patient’s home, washed, and returned to the patient for re-use, ensuring an environmentally friendly service for patients.

“Novartis are proud to partner with HealthBeacon on this project,” said Audrey Derveloy, country president of Novartis in Ireland.

“We know from feedback from patients in Ireland, and with the increased provision of healthcare in patients’ homes, that it is more important than ever for organizations to partner on developing sustainable solutions to medical waste management.”

Indigenous Irish company HealthBeacon currently employs over 50 staff at its Dublin headquarters and operates across multiple markets with significant presence in the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

Powering the circular economy

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar, who opened the new facility, emphasized on the need to take better care of our planet. This generation should aim to pass it on to the next in a better condition than we inherited it.

“A big part of this involves using fewer of the earth’s resources and recycling, repairing and reusing materials more often. It’s called the circular economy.

Medical waste is of a particular challenge given the need to make sure quality and safe standards are high and consistent and sterile to prevent infection.

The new R&D operation was welcomed by Enterprise Ireland CEO Leo Clancy as evidence of the scaling prerogative of Irish businesses.

“Enterprise Ireland is proud to partner with HealthBeacon as they continue to play an important role in improving patient outcomes by harnessing smart technology.

“This latest step in their journey, as they partner with Novartis, also brings sustainable practices to the fore which is critically important, as the transition to a low carbon and circular economy is a whole of society challenge, and I congratulate both firms for their efforts in this space.”

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