Technology & Science Advisory Board Kickoff Meeting

Edition 3 / October 2023

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Author
Dr. Michael Quirmbach,
CEO & President,
CordenPharma
 

Author
Dr. Adriano Indolese
Head of Development & Innovation,
CordenPharma International

CordenPharma Initiates First Technology & Science Advisory Board Meeting

[Photo by CordenPharma] CordenPharma welcomes members of our new Technology & Science Advisory Board (TSAB) at a kickoff meeting in Liestal, CH on 7 Sept, 2023

As a leading pharmaceutical CDMO, CordenPharma announced the creation of a new Technology & Science Advisory Board (TSAB) in July 2023 consisting of eight world-class experts from academia and industry, who will provide strategic guidance and scientific expertise to drive forward our continued growth and innovation. The formation of the Technology & Science Advisory Board was born out of CordenPharma’s commitment to stay at the forefront of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. By harnessing the knowledge and insights of renowned scientists and industry leaders coming from both academia and commercial sectors, CordenPharma aims to enhance our capabilities in the efficient development and manufacturing of APIs, Lipid Excipients, Drug Products, and Integrated Supply to support the complex modalities of our broad pharmaceutical customer base.

With a strategic focus of enhancing our service offerings with anticipated technological advancement, we feel confident the TSAB’s collective expertise will provide very valuable insights into emerging trends, cutting-edge technologies, and regulatory advancements across all of our six CordenPharma Technology Platforms.

At our kickoff event on 7 September, 2023 in Liestal, CH, we were pleased to formally initiate the first Technology and Science Advisory Board (TSAB) meeting by welcoming our eight world-class advisory experts together with > 40 CordenPharma executives, leading scientist / Subject Matter experts (SMEs) and Global Platform Directors.

We look forward to further collaboration with our board members, as we realize their unique value in anticipating industry developments and ensuring our readiness to meet the evolving needs of customers and their life-saving medicines, particularly in the high-demand development and manufacturing areas of peptides, oligonucleotides, lipids, injectable Lipid NanoParticles (LNPs), RNA drug delivery, highly potent Oral Solid Dose (OSD), flow chemistry, and small molecules.

[Photo by CordenPharma] Dr. Adriano Indolese, Head of Development & Innovation,
kicks off the TSAB Meeting.

The full day agenda was packed with “hot topics” such as new ways to economically and efficiently manufacture large-scale Peptides using new technologies. In particular, the recent medical advancement of GLP-1 receptor agonists such as Tirzepatide has created skyrocketing demand for environmentally conscious manufacturing processes (e.g., the application of continuous or Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) with a greener approach and avoidance / reduction of DMF etc.) for these drugs to be successful in the long term.

[Photo by CordenPharma] Dr. Michael Quirmbach, CEO & President,
addresses new TSAB Board members and CordenPharma team experts.

Other topics included the development of innovative, scalable Lipids for the efficient generation of Lipid Nanoparticles (LNPs) to target new organs. This is an increasing area of interest for innovative Biotechs & Pharma companies developing new vaccines and therapeutic applications allowing the delivery of complex modalities (such as mRNA, siRNA). CordenPharma plays a unique role in this field thanks to our unique end-to-end capabilities from initial small to large-scale synthesis of highly pure Lipids (both custom and standard catalog), combined with an integrated service offering of Lipid NanoParticle (LNP) Starter Kits for mRNA-based therapeutic development, LNP Formulation Services, and final Injectable fill / finish from early clinical to commercial stages.

Other groups extensively focused on flow chemistry and its flexible application in the manufacturing of intermediates and APIs – including Peptides and our newest platform Oligonucleotides. Organized under our Small Molecules platform, CordenPharma has seen increasing focus and interest from customers over the last three years in providing continuous manufacturing services from our Centre of Excellence for Flow Chemistry in Chenôve, France.

Among other highlights of the kickoff meeting, TSAB advisors joined CordenPharma experts in cross-functional workshops that generated remarkable insights and results from the synergies and knowledge shared across platforms – e.g. drug delivery development of Oral Peptide and Oligonucleotides – drawing on our strong competence in Oral Solid Dosage manufacturing (both Non Potent and Highly Potent & Oncology). These capabilities complement our already existing services to develop the formulation of APIs with challenging properties such limited solubility, permeability, very low drug load, high potency and limited stability. Here, CordenPharma offers a unique approach combining the optimal physical API form with the best formulation techniques out of our Drug Product Innovation Centre of Excellence in Plankstadt, Germany.

[Photo by CordenPharma] The TSAB meeting included focused cross-functional workshops across all CordenPharma Technology Platforms.

We were impressed by the lively discussions and engagement of the teams during the workshop, making this first TSAB meeting an enlightening start to setting the priorities for future scientific development at CordenPharma. It was another step on our journey towards becoming the leading scientifically driven CDMO.

CordenPharma’s Technology and Science Advisory Board Members:

Dr. José de Chastonay, Independent Consultant for Strategic M&A and Business Development (Portugal / Switzerland)

Prof. Dr C. Oliver Kappe, Professor of Chemistry, University of Graz (Austria)

Prof. Dr. Hiroshi Kikuchi, President of DDS Strategy Firm (Japan)

Prof. Dr. Olivia Merkel, Professor and Chair of Drug Delivery, LMU Munich (Germany)

Prof. Dr. Jean-Christophe M. Monbaliu, Professor of Organic Chemistry, Center for Integrated Technology and Organic Synthesis, University of Liège (Belgium)

Dr. Christoph Rosenbohm, MBA, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Aloop Therapeutics (Denmark)

Prof. Dr. Roderich Süssmuth, Rudolf-Wiechert-Professor and Chair of Biological Chemistry, Technical University Berlin (Germany)

Prof. Dr. Karl Wagner, Professor of Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy, University of Bonn (Germany)