A 3rd Consecutive Win: Croda Pharma Awarded Pharma Excipients Champion and Sustainability Influencer Award at CPHI China

Croda Pharma has recently achieved further recognition in the fields of pharmaceutical excipients and sustainability. Its innovative lipid excipient, Avanti™ DSPE-PEG2000 Maleimide, was honoured with the Drug Delivery Empowerment Award (Gold) at the Pharma Excipients Awards 2026 CPHI China.

Following its success in 2024 with the PHAD™ fully synthetic MPLA novel adjuvants, and in 2025 with Sustainably Sourced Squalene - both of which secured excipient champion titles - Croda Pharma has once again reached the top position in 2026, marking its third consecutive win. 

Receiving this award for three years in a row reflects its consistent and robust technical advancement in excipient innovation, further reinforcing its leadership in advanced drug delivery technologies.

In the field of drug delivery, Croda Pharma continues to drive industry progress through scientific innovation. The award-winning Avanti™ DSPE-PEG2000 Maleimide is a high-purity, functionalised PEGylated phospholipid excipient, designed to enable efficient conjugation between targeting ligands and lipid-based delivery systems. It provides critical support for advanced delivery platforms such as lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). By combining the advantages of PEGylation with a stable maleimide-thiol reaction, this product helps enhance circulation time, improves stability, and enables precise targeting in drug delivery systems. Its modular design also simplifies complex formulation development, facilitating a faster transition from research to commercialisation.

This innovation is underpinned by Croda’s extensive capabilities in lipid science, GMP manufacturing, regulatory support, and global supply networks. As a key enabler of advanced delivery systems, Croda Pharma not only supplies high-quality excipients but also supports customers worldwide through an integrated global technical and service platform, accelerating the development of next-generation therapies.

Croda Pharma has also continued to set industry benchmarks in sustainability. It was awarded the CPHI China Sustainability Influencer Award in recognition of the systematic contributions to green development and corporate social responsibility. By establishing a Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) and supplier emissions data framework, Croda Pharma has significantly enhanced transparency and carbon management capabilities across the pharmaceutical supply chain. Since 2022, PCF data has been extended to cover a substantial proportion of its product portfolio and aligned with internationally recognised standards, providing customers with reliable and comparable carbon data.

 

Croda Pharma actively promotes collaborative decarbonisation across its supply chain, improving the quality of Scope 3 emissions data through supplier engagement initiatives. Currently, approximately 29% of procured raw materials are assessed using supplier-specific carbon footprint data, enabling more precise emissions reduction decisions. This initiative transforms carbon data from a disclosure tool into a decision-making tool, empowering pharmaceutical companies to balance high performance with low-carbon objectives and supporting progress towards a net-zero future.

‘Smart science to improve lives™’ is not only Croda’s brand purpose but also a guiding principle embedded across its innovation and sustainability efforts. From advancing drug delivery technologies to strengthening decarbonisation practices along the value chain, Croda continues to empower both customers and the wider industry through science.

Looking ahead, Croda will remain customer-focused, integrating innovative technology with sustainable principles to deliver more efficient and environmentally responsible solutions for the global pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, working alongside industry partners towards a healthier and more sustainable future.