PHARMA SPECIAL
Associate VP of business development Andrew Mitchell observed that there is much uncertainty in the world right now, which has delayed many investment decisions. One unintended consequence of the pressure to build in the US is that costs there are going up and professional trades like welders and electricians are at a premium. Early-stage biotechs are still short of funding and focusing on their most promising molecules.
“ For our complex chemistry and our microbial production of biologics we see very good, strong demand” Mitchell said. That, in his view, reflects how the complex chemistry is going into supporting products that go into biologics, rather than just APIs. The two parts of the business thus support each other.
BioVectra is now exploring how it can leverage Agilent’ s instrumentation capabilities in ADCs. Microbial fermentation is another area of promise. It is now looking towards developing a‘ one-country stop’ capability for ADCs, including fill-finish, and a dedicated high potency business.
Shortly before CPHI, Axplora announced that total investments initiated across its global network in 2025 will be over € 100 million, with 60 % at Mourenx, France, thanks to“ a project of significant size and complexity”. This year also saw the expansion of ADC manufacturing capabilities at Le Mans. Axplora sees these and GLP-1s as high-growth opportunities, but expects small molecules to remain the heart of global pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Peptides still booming
Peptides, according to Dr Mimoun Ayoub, global head of the peptides and oligonucleotides platform CordenPharma, have accelerated away from their historically high 8-10 %/ year growth rates, thanks mainly to GLP-1s. The key challenges now relate to the availability of the large capacities needed to
Carbogen Amcis will work with Celonic on ADCs
Partnering for new modalities
On the last day of CPHI, SK Pharmteco revealed that it had signed a letter of intent to join with its Korean compatriot Lotte Biologics to provide integrated CDMO services in ADCs from development to commercial manufacturing. Lotte will offer bioconjugation and drug substance manufacturing from its cGMP site in the US, while SK will handle linker – payload development and manufacturing.
This, said SK Pharmteco CEO Joerg Ahlgrimm, is in line with the supply chain reshoring trend. Both companies have linker – payload capacity in the US, which, combined with Lotte’ s bioconjugation, enables them to offer US-only services, but SK also has ADC capabilities in Ireland and Korea.
PPS has signed a memorandum of understanding to explore collaboration in ADC development with IntoCell, a Korean biotech specialising in linker and payload platform technologies. The Indian CDMO will bring its bioconjugates capacity to the table, while IntoCell will explore licensing opportunities for its proprietary drug-linker technologies with Piramal’ s clients.
One of the first chemistry-based CDMOs to build dedicated ADC capabilities, Carbogen Amcis, has now formed a strategic partnership with pure-play biologics CDMO Celonics, a Swiss compatriot, to offer fully integrated ADC development and manufacturing services. This will include:
• Cell line development and antibody production at scale
• Payload and linker synthesis and at-scale manufacturing
• ADC conjugation and sterile fill-finish
• Regulatory support and CMC documentation for IND, IMPD, and BLA filings
Finally, Japan’ s Ajinomoto Bio-Pharma Services and Italian CDMO Olon have formed a partnership that will combine the former’ s Corynex peptide and protein manufacturing platform, which is based on the gram-positive bacteria C. glutamicum, with the latter’ s large-scale(> 100,000 L) microbial fermentation capabilities in drug substance manufacturing. This is expected to address high demand for GLP-1 analogues in particular.
NOV / DEC 2025 SPECCHEMONLINE. COM
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