CordenPharma CEO on Record CDMO Growth in 2022 & Expansion for 2023

Edition 1 / February 2023

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Author
Dr. Michael Quirmbach
CEO & President,
CordenPharma

2022-2023: A Continuation of Record Growth & Expansion

It is once again my pleasure to welcome you, our customers, partners and suppliers, to the first edition of Corden Connect 2023! This is always a great opportunity for me to keep you updated on the strategies that drive CordenPharma as a leading CDMO for the development and manufacturing of complex modalities for APIs, Lipid Excipients and Drug Products. As a global organization, we continue to transform, develop and stay on top of an ever-changing landscape of industry requirements to serve the most innovative Biotech and Pharma companies, and ultimately contribute to the delivery of critical medicines to their patients. This is what drives us at CordenPharma every day!

I am very proud to report that CordenPharma financially continued its exciting and strong growth trajectory in 2022 by delivering our highest sales to date exceeding >€870M, which represents an increase of ~14% compared to 2021. Despite multiple challenges due to a difficult global environment, this was operationally only possible thanks to our dedicated team of employees across twelve global manufacturing sites in Europe and the US, all supported by a strong site leadership team that exemplified agility, flexibility and fast decision making.

Furthermore, our global operations and engineering teams were very busy in continuing the execution of the large strategic CAPEX projects announced in 2022 to increase development and manufacturing capacity and technology in Peptides, Lipids, Highly Potent and Small Molecules, with the majority of them to be completed in 2023.

As a continuation of these efforts, we made the decision in early 2023 to significantly expand our Peptide manufacturing capacities and capabilities by planning to invest > $60M at our site in Boulder, Colorado, both in mid and large-scale manufacturing, to not only support our fast growing pipeline of new peptide projects, but also the production of a large recently launched innovative product based on a complex Peptide.

In addition, we kicked-off strategic investments at our CordenPharma Caponago Injectable site with the construction of a GMP Lipid NanoParticle (LNP) manufacturing suite (complementing our existing nGMP development capabilities) and the installation of a 3rd aseptic Fill & Finish line. These investments will enable us to uniquely serve our customers from initial Lipid Excipient supply (both standard catalog and innovative, proprietary custom Lipid synthesis) and LNP formulation development of nucleic acids (xRNAs) to final aseptic Fill & Finish from small-scale (clinical trials) to commercial manufacturing. Together with our partner Wacker Biotech, we are able to offer the full supply chain from initial pDNA to mRNA manufacturing as exemplified by the Pandemic Preparedness contract awarded in April 2022 by the German government to both companies.

To complete our capabilities for the manufacturing of complex innovative modalities, I am very excited to announce that we have taken the decision to restart our Oligonucleotide manufacturing in the US at our site in Boulder, Colorado by establishing a Centre of Excellence for Oligonucleotides that will enable the supply of a wide range of synthetic Oligonucleotides to support early clinical to commercial supply to our customers.

On a different note, I want to draw your attention to our announcement at the end of 2022 about joining the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi). As a leading CDMO, we have committed to evaluating and developing over the next year science-based greenhouse gas emission reduction targets aligned with the SBTi criteria. Once set, the targets will be submitted to the SBTi partnership for validation and approval, and eventually published on the SBTi website. Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) is a top priority of both CordenPharma and our new private equity shareholders, Astorg. To this end, we are already working with companies such as EcoVadis on achieving the highest level of sustainability ratings for our global facilities.

Last but not least, thank you to all our customers who have continued to entrust us with their key projects over the years! With all these strategic initiatives across CordenPharma, we continue our aim in better serving our customers and their patients by identifying and expanding on key trends & technologies in the pharmaceutical industry that contribute towards the development of innovative life-saving medications. As stated at the beginning, I can assure you that the CordenPharma team continues to be inspired by the direct impact you (our customers) have on patients, and as such, we strive for excellence every day to deliver on-time, high-quality products with integrity, transparency and flexibility.

As we embark on this new year, we continue to focus growth on our key Technology Platforms – Peptides, Lipids & Carbohydrates, Highly Potent & Oncology, Small Molecules, and Injectables – along with a new Oligonucleotides platform coming soon. In addition, we will strengthen our Fully Integrated Supply Solutions to bring you the maximum benefit for this increased demand.

We look forward to meeting customers in person this year at the upcoming DCAT Week – March 20 – 23 in New York City – and CPHI North America – April 25 – 27 in Philadelphia – or any other planned trade shows to discuss your ongoing & future project needs.

To conclude, feel free to reach out to your respective Key Account Managers to schedule a meeting or provide any feedback on how you believe we can better serve you in the future! We look forward to a successful 2023!

Dr. Michael Quirmbach
President & CEO
CordenPharma Group