Drugs as contaminants of emerging concern: preventive approaches beyond detection, regulatory aspects and remediation

Scientific literature has recently focused systematically on pollution deriving from environmental spreading of drugs thanks to advances in techniques which allows a better and more accurate detection of pollutants as well as the increase of the regulatory pressure, especially for the substances with endocrine and antimicrobial activities. The issues related to the pharmaceutical micropollutant can be addressed with a multidisciplinary approach which includes advanced analytical chemistry, biology, environmental and pharmaceutical sciences as well as public health-related disciplines. Their integration allows a better understanding and evaluation of the environmental risk associated to pharmaceutical micropollutants and the development of effective solutions for its management and mitigation. In this review detection methods, regulatory aspects and post-emission water-(bio) remediation technologies are considered in an instrumental manner to open the way to the critical analysis of the innovative pharmaceutical technological approaches to contrast the environmental release of drugs and their harmful transformation products. The focus is on the emerging new formulations and drug delivery technologies aimed at preventing the release of drugs in their active form into the environment. The synergy between modern analytical techniques, preventive technologies, and global regulatory systems for the environmental and health risk assessment must become a non-secondary driver in the developments of next generation, safe, effective and greener medicinal products in the context of the One Health approach.