CordenPharma Inaugurates Increased Peptide Production of Largest Worldwide SPPS Manufacturing Plant

Press Release > CordenPharma Inaugurates Increased Peptide Production of the Largest Worldwide SPPS Manufacturing Plant to Meet Growing Market Demand

6 September 2023 – Basel >

Following the signature of a multi-year large scale peptide manufacturing agreement earlier this year, CordenPharma is pleased to announce the inauguration of increased commercial peptide production capacity with newly-upgraded facilities at CordenPharma Colorado, the largest Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis (SPPS) Manufacturing facility worldwide.

After kicking off capital investments in early 2023, CordenPharma successfully completed a series of upgrades and modernizations to the facility which have increased the efficiency and throughput of SPPS peptide production, allowing for increased capacity to service current and future customers across a growing pharmaceutical innovator base. The extensive Capital Expenditure initiative includes:

• >> Upgrades to their existing 10’000 L reactor volume with a batch size exceeding 400 kg (> 35 Amino Acids), and a yearly capacity of > 2 Metric Tons of Peptide
• >> A 50% increase in downstream HPLC purification capacity
• >> Automation upgrades that allow a reduction in overall cycle time, greater scale-up consistency, and the elimination of human error
• >> Implementation of PAT for amino acid identification to avoid errors in peptide sequence, and ready-to-use process intensification with continuous washing and reaction monitoring
• >> Modernization of critical infrastructure for increased efficiency of solvent delivery (> 150’000 L) and effluent removal, including the strategic alignment of the deprotection (up to 20’000 L capacity), cleavage and isolation of crude peptide with the increased SPPS reactor capacity

With decades of proven SPPS production, CordenPharma Colorado is pleased to expand their team of experts to accommodate the overall capacity increase and resulting project demand. On top of its existing workforce of > 500 employees, they expect to add another 60 employees, with additional staff in the future as needed.

As a continuation of CordenPharma’s 2023 investment strategy across all technology platforms including peptides, the updates of the world’s largest SPPS peptide capacity perfectly complements CordenPharma’s robust end-to-end service offerings with fully-integrated sterile injectable capabilities in CordenPharma Caponago (IT), including recently-expanded LNP Formulation and Fill & Finish capacity.

Dr. Michael Quirmbach, CordenPharma’s CEO commented: “This expansion marks another milestone for CordenPharma, cementing our position as the leading large-scale Peptide CDMO partner to the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Under the leadership of Brian McCudden, I am very proud of our team in Colorado for their great implementation of this challenging project on time and within budget.”

Dr. Stéphane Varray, CordenPharma’s Global Peptide Platform Director, added: “CordenPharma is pleased to celebrate the start of peptide production in our newly-upgraded and expanded SPPS manufacturing facility in Colorado with the largest worldwide peptide capacity available. These modernizations will allow for increased efficiency, throughput, and access to state-of-the-art technologies for streamlined commercial peptide API supply. Our team at CordenPharma Colorado brings unparalleled expertise in proven peptide production across all scales and phases, which is fully-integrated with our flexible sterile injectable capabilities. We look forward to supporting an expanding base of pharmaceutical innovators with bespoke peptide supply tailored to support the complex modalities of their therapeutic drug development and commercialization journey.”

[Photo by CordenPharma] CordenPharma CEO Dr. Michael Quirmbach and CordenPharma Colorado Managing Director Brian McCudden at a ribbon cutting on 22 August 2023 to inaugurate increased peptide production in CordenPharma Colorado’s newly-updated large-scale manufacturing facility with expanded SPPS processing and solvent logistics capabilities, including a modernized tank farm (on left) and filter dryer for crude peptide isolation (on right).

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About CordenPharma

CordenPharma is a CDMO partner supporting biotech and pharma innovators of complex modalities in the advancement of their drug development lifecycle. Harnessing the collective expertise of the teams across its globally integrated facility network, CordenPharma provides bespoke outsourcing services spanning the complete supply chain, from early clinical-phase development to commercialization.

With scientific expertise and partnership at its core, CordenPharma provides customers high-value, end-to-end services with a strategic focus on Peptides, Oligonucleotides, customized Lipid Excipients, Lipid NanoParticles (LNPs), sterile Injectables, and the extensive supply of Small Molecules (both Highly Potent and Regular Potency).

The CordenPharma Group is comprised of 12 facilities across Europe and North America. In the 2022 financial year, the organization generated sales of 870 million Euros and had over 3,000 employees.

For more information about CordenPharma, contact us or visit cordenpharma.com.

CordenPharma Media Contacts
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