CHELMSFORD, Mass.– Asahi Kasei Bioprocess America (AKBA) and Swedish biotech company PeptiSystems have announced a global strategic partnership to streamline peptide manufacturing, combining advanced hardware with decades of bioprocessing expertise. Under the agreement, AKBA will serve as the exclusive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of peptide synthesis columns for PeptiSystems, supporting the growing demand for efficient, high-quality peptide and oligonucleotide therapeutics.
The collaboration unites PeptiSystems’ innovative flow-through synthesis technology with AKBA’s THESYS® ACS Ergo columns, which were launched in 2024. These patented columns are designed to significantly reduce changeover times between batches while maintaining strict safety and quality standards. The goal is to deliver a robust, scalable peptide synthesis process for pharmaceutical and contract manufacturing organizations around the world.
“This partnership underscores our shared commitment to delivering transformative and reliable technologies to the peptide synthesis market,” said Karin Granath, CEO of PeptiSystems. “Our systems prioritize chemistry first, and Asahi Kasei’s column technology offers the flexibility and control needed to support that focus.”
Chris Rombach, President of Asahi Kasei Bioprocess America, called the partnership a natural evolution of the company’s expansion into the TIDES market, which includes therapeutics based on peptides and oligonucleotides. “By aligning our column expertise with PeptiSystems’ next-generation synthesis systems, we are building foundational technologies that deliver value to our customers across the drug development and manufacturing landscape,” he said.
The partnership will have global reach, targeting a range of markets including pharmaceutical production and contract development and manufacturing. It comes shortly after the operational launch of Asahi Kasei Life Sciences, which encompasses AKBA and other life science units such as Planova™, BioOptimal™, ViruSure, Bionique, and Bionova Scientific. These organizations span biologics development, biosafety testing, filtration, and contract research and manufacturing services.
As the demand for peptide-based therapies continues to rise, both companies say the partnership will bring forward a more efficient and scalable model for synthesis, with the potential to reshape industry expectations for quality, flexibility, and throughput.
