TeleBasel Switzerland TV Interviews CordenPharma CEO Dr. Michael Quirmbach – 8 December – see Minute 3:30 for the section “Basel region experiences peptide boom.”
The peptide market is currently one of the fastest growing segments in the pharmaceutical industry. One of the reasons for this is the highly coveted weight loss injections market, in which GLP-1 peptides play a central role as an active ingredient.
The Basel region occupies a leading position in this dynamic life science cluster. The demand for peptides has exploded in recent years – and this is just the beginning, explains Sibylle Bischofberger, a pharmaceutical analyst at Vontobel.
Sales of the drugs used to treat weight loss are currently in the billions. However, by 2030, they are expected to reach well over 100 billion Swiss francs, says Bischofberger. The demand is enormous: it is estimated that more than two billion overweight and 800 million obese people could benefit from these drugs. Treating these patients will require correspondingly large quantities of peptides.
The high demand is not only driving companies like Bachem to massively expand their production capacities, but also the CDMO company CordenPharma. In total, CordenPharma is investing around 900 million Swiss francs in new production facilities, a third of which is in the Basel region.
CEO Dr Michael Quirmbach emphasizes the advantages of the location: “Here in the Basel region, we have highly trained specialists, and that is crucial in this business. We offer highly complex services, and a first-class workforce is essential for this.”
Sibylle Bischofberger takes a positive view of the fact that several companies in the region are involved in the ‘peptide GLP-1 weight loss race’. She emphasizes that the Basel region benefits greatly from the investments – for example, through orders for local tradesmen to build new production facilities, the creation of new jobs and higher tax revenues.
The boom in the peptide market is also noticeable in the city of Basel itself. For example, Roche is currently developing a drug for weight loss.
Dr. Michael Quirmbach
CEO & President
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