Snapdragon expands in peptides

Cambrex’s Snapdragon Chemistry subsidiary has added a GMP manufacturing suite focused on peptides at its API facility in Waltham, Massachusetts. This increases the overall facility footprint by 20% and includes an ISO-7 cleanroom for preparative HPLC chromatography and lyophilisation, cold storage for raw materials and a product storage suite. 

This means that the company can now support peptide projects from development to GMP manufacturing using solid-phase (SPPS), liquid-phase (LPPS) and hybrid synthesis. General manager Dr Eric Fang added that the facility was designed “with a three-step strategy in mind for the development of peptide drug candidates”: 

1. Automated SPPS technology for proof-of-concept
2. Parallel process optimisation using LPPS synthesised technology to accelerate development and reduce manufacturing cost
3. Transfer to large manufacturing facilities to produce materials in traditional large-batch reactors

Snapdragon’s LPPS technology uses traditional API batch reactors and continuous flow, which reduces solvent demand and the need for excess reagents compared to standard SPPS processes. In addition, while SPPS is useful to get to proof-of-concept quickly, it is not a scalable solution for large-volume supply. “We designed the LPPS process so that we can leverage all 1.4 million litres of capacity within Cambrex to deliver peptide therapies,” said Cambrex CSO Dr Matt Bio.