Sustainability

Making healthier living a reality

Imagine healthier living that is convenient, pleasurable and easy. We make this a reality for consumers all over the globe and we work hard to reach as many people as possible.

As a specialist Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) with our own custom delivery systems, we create pleasant and convenient products in close co-operation with leading global pharma and consumer health companies to help people with health issues ranging from oral care to pain relief.

Our Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) products enable millions of people around the world to stop or reduce smoking, preventing dangerous second-hand smoke, a deterioration in quality of life and eventually premature death. Our pouch powder used in nicotine pouches also provides smokers with a less harmful alternative to smoking. In 2023, we manufactured over 2.6 billion doses of NRT, providing approximately 2.9 million smokers with the opportunity to quit smoking and lead healthier lives. We are proud of this achievement and are firmly committed to expanding our reach in the coming years.

We also make convenient and pleasurable products that allow consumers to get the recommended level of vitamins and minerals, and other products that help consumers combat the painful feeling of heartburn. Our unique Zapliq® delivery system enables people, young and old, with difficulties swallowing pills to consume active ingredients in a fast, pleasurable and simple way.

With the knowledge that pleasure and convenience lead to higher compliance and effectiveness of medication and self-treatment, we proudly play our part and take responsibility for achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. In 2023 alone, we provided treatments to consumers in 29 countries, enabling them to be healthier and happier – and live the lives they aspire to.

Delivering healthier living to everyone

To realise our ambition, we focus on our consumer reach and the number of:

Doses manufactured and distributed to consumers worldwide
Countries where our products are available to consumers
Therapeutic areas covered and active ingredients offered
Delivery systems offered

As a CDMO, we use our expertise to manufacture the best products available – delivering high efficacy and a pleasant taste and texture experience, all in a convenient way. We develop new and unique products together with our partners and customers. Our partners and customers are experts in their respective markets and highly experienced in marketing and distribution to consumers around the world. By expanding our footprint, partnerships and offering, we are proud to have provided more than 2.6 billion doses in 28 countries in 2023 in co-operation with our partners.

Developing new delivery systems creates variety in the products available to consumers, ensuring that more people’s preferences are covered. By combining our unique delivery systems with our extensive knowledge of consumer preferences and tastes, we facilitate higher adherence to treatment and with it a higher quality of life. When we add a new active ingredient to our selection, we enable a completely new segment of consumers to cover their daily medical or nutraceutical needs in a pleasant, discrete and convenient way.

Backed by research

Our continued research into consumer behaviours and preferences provides the basis for all our development activities and powers our ambition to enable more people to live healthier lives.

Our R&D team and the Nicotine Science Center transform our knowledge about consumers into physical product samples. These are tested again by consumers to ensure that we have everything right before the launch of an exciting new product. The Nicotine Science Center conducts applied scientific research on nicotine and explores methods for replacing nicotine obtained from smoking with less harmful alternatives.

To achieve our mission, we work diligently to roll out our solutions to customers and ultimately consumers in as many countries as possible. All the while, we ensure safe and sustainable GMP manufacturing practices at our facilities around the world.

Manufacturing

As a responsible global company and employer, we are proud to conduct our manufacturing and business practices according with the UN’s principles of Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The most relevant goals that we impact include:

SDG 3: Good health and well-being
SDG 5: Gender equality
SDG 12: Responsible production and consumption
SDG 13: Climate action
SDG 15: Life on land
SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions

Since 2018, Fertin Denmark has reduced the scrap from our NRT products by close to 50% and we aim to reduce this by another 25% by 2025. And even as our manufacturing is increasing year by year, we are reducing our CO₂ emissions per kg finished product as well as our consumption of water, electricity and natural gasses. In 2020, Fertin Denmark manufactured ~3700 tons of products supporting healthier living for millions of people. Our CO₂ emissions correspond to 2.6 tons per ton finished products. In five years, we will reduce this to just 0.4 tons CO₂/ton of finished product. See more details on our targets and how we reduce our footprint in our annual Sustainability Report.

With locations in Denmark, Canada and India and with our products distributed in 30 countries worldwide, we aspire to lead by example in ethics and anti-corruption, employee safety and well-being and gender equality.

Our employees are our most important asset and a prerequisite for Fertin being able to continue its development. That’s why we continuously focus on work climate and job satisfaction, supported by a formalised, dialogue-based survey that runs quarterly. By the end of 2020, our wok climate was rated 4.00, with 5 being the best. The equivalent rating for 2019 was 3.95.

Growing a socially responsible business

We want to grow a responsible and profitable business together with our suppliers and partners. To support this mission, we govern our co-operation with more than 600 suppliers worldwide by the Fertin Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct is based on the principles of the UN Global Compact and comprises main chapters on labour rights and health, safety and environment. Our sustainability reports and policy documents are reviewed annually and adopted by the Board of Directors.

Supporting healthier living