New biocide active substances:needs and challenges in the EU as viewed by industry

Emerging regulatory initiatives in the EU are driving towards more environmentally safe chemicals, used as such or in a wide range of products and applications. The aim of the regulations is also to foster and support the emergence of new or safer alternatives and to drive innovations thereof. Biocides are chemicals, which are used in a vast and steadily growing number of applications in order to preserve product safety and quality, however, the number of the Active Substances (AS) used in biocides is decreasing in the EU concurrent with the implementation of the Biocidal Product Directive (BPD). Accordingly, the present study attempts to elucidate views of representatives of the biocide industry in order to identify some of the present drivers and challenges of new AS development in the different biocide application areas, with emphasis on the economic feasibility of safer biocide development in the future. Notably, the costs of vertebrate testing are a major factor in development of new AS. Therefore, an evaluation of the costs of such tests and their total proportion of total AS development costs is also discussed. Industry expectations for the implementation of the BPD and impacts thereof are presented.<br

Feasibility of Active Ingredient (AI) development for new biocides in the EU

Biocides usage covers a vast industrial area and the history of biocide and other antimicrobial agent usage in various forms and applications dates back centuries. While the emerging EU regulations (BPD, REACH and others) strive to increase the safety and the eco-efficiency of chemical products and production processes, such changes may also create voids in the availability of current biocides due to outphasing. The present study evaluated the need for new Active Ingredient (AI) development. The feasibility of such development was explored, and the data of economic feasibility analysis shows that, contrary to general expectations, AI development can become profitable within certain economic boundaries