Peptide makers’ new threat

Abstract

German start-up Numaferm has developed a biotech process that it claims will reduce the cost of making peptides—long chains of DNA typically used as drugs—at industrial scale by orders of magnitude. Numaferm’s fermentation technology is applicable to peptides made with natural amino acids, a family that makes up about half of the $1 billion-per-year global peptide synthesis market. The firm thinks it can squeeze pharmaceutical-grade peptide costs from an average of $1.2 million per kg for the current synthetic method to between $50,000 and $100,000. At this cost differential, leading commercial peptide firms such as Bachem, CordenPharma, and Polypeptide Laboratories would appear to have a fight on their hands. All three firms declined to talk with C&EN about the new challenger. Numaferm hopes its technology will also make peptides cheap enough to be used profitably in consumer products such as cosmetics and paints. The firm’s small team is now fully