Pharmaceutical industry riding the wave of sustainability: review and opportunities for future research

we review existing business and management studies on sustainability in the pharmaceutical industry with the following aims in mind: to depict the current status of the research, to delineate the main approaches to sustainability, and to identify possible gaps and subject areas to be investigated in future research. The analysis reveals that environmental sustainability has become a central focus of management studies, especially in terms of cleaner production, green supply chain, green materials, and sustainable human resource management. The paper proposes areas that remain unexplored and might represent opportunities for future research, including waste management, the economic impact of new drugs, the contribution of pharmaceutical companies to the economic sustainability of health systems, and the study of emerging vs. mature markets.