Swiss service provider CordenPharma is acquiring AmbioPharm, gaining facilities such as a plant in South Carolina to provide a fully U.S.-based supply.
CordenPharma has struck a deal to buy AmbioPharm, a move that will expand its ability to develop and manufacture complex peptides.
Basel-based CordenPharma manufactures peptides for companies including Viking Therapeutics, which tapped the service provider last year to secure capacity for its GLP-1 candidate VK2735. Viking aims to compete with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, drugmakers that have showcased the potential of peptides and fueled interest in the drug modality with products such as Wegovy and Zepbound.
Buying AmbioPharm will position CordenPharma to meet demand for peptide production. AmbioPharm runs peptide manufacturing facilities in South Carolina and Shanghai. CordenPharma will integrate the facilities, which employ about 400 people, into its network of 11 European and North American sites.
AmbioPharm’s South Carolina facility will become CordenPharma’s second peptide facility in the U.S. The acquired facility will add significant capacity focused on purification and lyophilization of peptide active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), CordenPharma said, and complement existing capabilities at its plant in Colorado.
Establishing complementary capabilities will equip CordenPharma to provide fully U.S.-based peptide API supplies for large-scale commercial peptide projects. The focus on having a U.S. supply chain comes at a time when drugmakers face political pressures to make medicines for American patients in the U.S.
With AmbioPharm operating a site in China, CordenPharma will have peptide production capabilities on three continents once the deal closes. AmbioPharm’s Shanghai facility supports clinical and commercial global supply with significant upstream capacity across multiple forms of peptide synthesis, plus selected downstream capabilities, CordenPharma said.
AmbioPharm’s solid-phase, liquid-phase and hybrid peptide synthesis capabilities add to the tag-assisted approach used by CordenPharma. The range of approaches will give customers flexible options to match their manufacturing requirements for complex, long and high-purity peptide APIs, CordenPharma said.
Financial details of the deal remain private. AmbioPharm’s shareholders will reinvest in the combined business. Astorg, the private equity group that acquired CordenPharma in 2022, has supported its peptide expansion. In 2024, CordenPharma vowed to invest about €900 million ($1 billion) to add peptide production capabilities in the U.S. and Europe.
