Until the early 1990s, it took six separate, chemical reactions to make the painkiller and anti-inflammatory ibuprofen. Of the ingredients that went in, only about 40 percent were found in the final product. But in 1992, the chemical producer BHC Company started using a new way to produce the drug using only three steps, utilizing about 80 percent of the initial ingredients. Today, the innovation in ibuprofen is considered a classic example of green chemistry—a set of ideas that, for the past few decades, has driven attention to sustainability in the pharmaceutical industry.