GLP-1 bonanza spurs big investment at CDMO CordenPharma

CordenPharma has launched a €900 million ($981 million) investment programme to prepare for an expected surge in demand for peptide production capacity – driven by GLP-1 receptor agonists.

The three-year plan revolves around parallel programmes in the US and Europe that will include new builds, as well as upgrades and expansion to its existing facilities, according to the German contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO).

It is the largest project ever undertaken in CordenPharma's history and reflects the enormous potential of the GLP-1 category, where sales are rocketing for diabetes and obesity, driven by the drugs' ability to achieve significant weight loss, and could gain additional momentum with new indications in areas like heart and kidney health.

The company reckons servicing this fast-growing market could help drive total revenues above €1.8 billion by 2028, including €1 billion from peptides, saying it has already signed multiple long-term contracts worth around €3 billion.

The US expansion involves bringing additional peptide manufacturing capacity to CordenPharma's site in Boulder, Colorado, with the construction of a third large-scale manufacturing facility and an increase in manufacturing trains in the two existing plants.

Last year, the company said it had secured a $1 billion contract from an undisclosed client to produce a new peptide product at the Boulder site.

The European project involves the construction of a greenfield facility at an as-yet undisclosed location in the "heart of Europe" that will specialise in early-clinical to late-stage commercial production of peptides.

"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 and chief executive of CordenPharma.

"We are honoured 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," he added.

CordenPharma's big investment plan comes two years after it was acquired by European private equity firm Astorg from former owner ICIG, a specialist in chemicals manufacturing, with the terms of the transaction not made public.

At the time, the new owner said it would concentrate the CDMO's efforts on mRNA vaccines, peptides, and high-potency therapeutics in oncology and other diseases.

In May, GlobalData said that the market for GLP-1 agonists in diabetes and obesity was growing at an "unprecedented" rate and would reach more than $125 billion in seven key markets – the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, and Japan – by 2033.

Reaching that level will depend on solving supply constraints that have affected the frontrunners in the category – Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly – which have also been investing heavily in additional manufacturing capacity.