Waltham, Mass– Cambrex, a leading global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), today announced the expansion of its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) facility in Waltham, Massachusetts. The site, operated by Snapdragon Chemistry, a Cambrex company, now includes a new GMP manufacturing suite to support the development and production of peptide therapies.
The expansion increases the facility’s footprint by 20 percent and adds an ISO-7 cleanroom for preparative HPLC chromatography and lyophilization, as well as cold storage for raw materials and a dedicated product storage suite. With this investment, Snapdragon can advance peptide programs from early development through GMP manufacturing using solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS), liquid-phase peptide synthesis (LPPS), or hybrid approaches.
“We designed this facility with a three-step strategy in mind for the development of peptide drug candidates,” said Dr. Eric Fang, General Manager at Snapdragon Chemistry. “We start with automated SPPS technology for proof-of-concept. In parallel, we optimize the process using LPPS technology to accelerate development and reduce manufacturing cost. We can then transfer the process to our large manufacturing facilities, such as Charles City, Iowa, to produce materials in traditional large batch reactors, significantly reducing the cost of those drugs.”
Snapdragon’s LPPS platform leverages traditional API batch reactors and continuous flow, minimizing dependence on specialized solid-phase reactors. The approach significantly reduces solvent demand and excess reagent use compared to conventional solid-state peptide synthesis.
“SPPS certainly has its place. We use it in early development to get to the clinic and to proof-of-concept quickly, but it’s not a scalable solution if you want to supply a huge patient population,” said Dr. Matt Bio, Chief Scientific Officer of Cambrex. “We designed the LPPS process so that we can leverage all 1.4 million liters of capacity within Cambrex to deliver peptide therapies.”
Cambrex continues to expand its R&D efforts in complex synthetic modalities, advancing peptide manufacturing innovation and exploring the use of artificial intelligence to optimize oligonucleotide processes.
