CordenPharma gets bigger in peptides
pharmafile | September 3, 2013 | News story | Manufacturing and Production | API, CordenPharma, Solvay, peptides
Solvay has reached an agreement to sell its peptide subsidiary Peptisyntha SA to the holding company behind contract manufacturing organisation CordenPharma.
International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG) said the transaction should complete later this year and will add a third site providing peptide manufacturing to its CordenPharma manufacturing network.
The market for peptide drugs – which includes well-established drug products such as insulin – has been on the increase in recent years, with more than 100 new candidates in clinical development in 2011 and 50-plus already on the market.
The market was estimated to be worth around $11 billion in 2010 and has been growing at a little under 10% a year, outstripping the overall pharma market, according to industry estimates. The market for peptide active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) is thought to be worth around $1 billion, and the CMO market for peptides some $400-$500 million with the potential to almost double by 2017.
Christian Ewers, chief operating officer at CordenPharma’s API business, said that the acquisition will enable the company to offer customers a complete range of peptide synthesis services.
Peptisyntha’s liquid-phase synthesis expertise will complement CordenPharma’s solid-phase synthesis and hybrid synthesis, and the combined company will have stronger development capabilities.
For Belgian company Solvay the disposal of Peptisyntha completes its strategic exit from the life science business as it refocuses on its core chemicals operations. However, US unit Peptisyntha Inc – based in Torrance, California – is not part of the transaction although some of its customer relationships will be assumed by Peptisyntha in Brussels.
CordenPharma, which was set up in 2006 and has annual sales of around €800 million ($1.1 billion), has been growing steadily with a series of acquisitions in recent years.
These include Tessenderlo’s electrolysis and chloro-aromatics unit in Italy earlier this year, the same company’s pharmaceutical ingredients business in October 2012 and a Roche API facility in Colorado and Genzyme intermediates unit in 2011.
Phil Taylor
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