Cordenpharma Invests $984 Million into Its Peptide Tech Platform

CordenPharma, a full-service contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), excipients, drug products and packaging services, will invest approximately $984 million (€900 million) over the next three years in order to enhance its peptide technology platform.¹

These initiatives feature two major expansion plans in the United States and Europe that will occur at the same time that will follow the quality and technical standards for short and long peptide manufacturing, including Biologics License Applications (BLA) requirements.

In the United States, the project will focus on increasing peptide capacity at the CDMO’s Colorado plant, including construction of a new large-scale manufacturing facility, along with a boost in manufacturing trains in the existing facility. There has been a spike in demand for the diabetes and obesity glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonist medications market, following multiple, long-term, multiyear contracts totaling $3.3 billion (€3 billion).

The European expansion will feature the design of a new state-of-the-art greenfield facility, and it is anticipated that the increase in peptide capacity will suit the needs of customers, from initial early clinical to late-stage commercial manufacturing. Although the company did not reveal an exact location, it did note that the new plant will be situated “in the heart of Europe.”

The aforementioned efforts date back to 2022, when CordenPharma was purchased by Astorg, a private equity firm.2 The firm had laid out an objective of having the CDMO hit $1.1 billion (€1 billion) in sales for its peptide platform, along a total group revnue of $2 billion (€1.8 billion) by 2028.

“These investments will profoundly strengthen our ability to provide valuable and much needed support to innovators for the benefit of patients,” said Dr. Michael Quirmbach, president & CEO of the CordenPharma Group. “We are honored by the trust our customers have placed in us to deliver expert outsourcing for large multiyear contracts, and our team is proud to contribute decades of peptide manufacturing experience towards these transformative new medicines.

“In addition, the strong commitment and support of our shareholder Astorg demonstrates their strategic vision for CordenPharma to become the leading CDMO for complex modalities such as peptides, by offering fully-integrated end-to-end services from APIs to drug products (for both injectable and oral peptides).”

“We are proud of what Michael and the CordenPharma team have achieved through their striving for operational excellence, customer service and ambitious growth,” noted Dr. Signe Michel, managing director at Astorg. “We are excited about the opportunities ahead and to further strengthen the company’s peptide offering across the full drug lifecycle and value chain.”

Another CordenPharma quality that stood out to Astorg executives is its capacity and performance abilities when it comes to large scale manufacturing.

“CordenPharma has a unique opportunity to reinforce its leadership position in peptides with unmatched capacity and performance in large scale manufacturing,” commented Judith Charpentier, co-head flagship fund and head of healthcare. “With the company’s proven track record and our investor experience in pharmaceutical services, we feel confident that our latest commitment will help the company seize this opportunity.”

References

1. CordenPharma Invests €900m in Transformational Peptide Platform Expansion in the USA & Europe. CordenPharma. July 16, 2024. Accessed July 17, 2024. https://cordenpharma.com/articles/press-release-cordenpharma-invests-900-million-euros-in-transformational-peptide-platform-expansion-in-usa-and-europe/

2. Astorg to acquire leading Pharmaceutical Contract Development & Manufacturing Organization CordenPharma from ICIG. Astorg. May 2, 2022. Accessed July 17, 2024. https://www.astorg.com/news/corden-news