Cambrex, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, said its subsidiary Snapdragon Chemistry has expanded its active pharmaceutical ingredient facility in Waltham, Massachusetts. The new GMP manufacturing suite increases the facility’s footprint by 20% and includes an ISO-7 cleanroom for preparative HPLC chromatography and lyophilization, as well as additional cold storage and a product storage suite.
According to the company, the expansion enables Snapdragon to support peptide projects from development through GMP manufacturing using solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS), liquid-phase peptide synthesis (LPPS), or hybrid methods.
Eric Fang, general manager at Snapdragon Chemistry, said the company designed the facility “with a three-step strategy in mind for the development of peptide drug candidates,” which begins with automated SPPS technology for proof-of-concept, followed by process optimization with LPPS, and eventual transfer to Cambrex’s large-scale manufacturing sites, such as its Charles City, Iowa facility.
Cambrex said its LPPS process uses traditional API batch reactors and continuous flow systems, which can reduce solvent demand and the need for excess reagents compared to standard SPPS processes.
Matt Bio, Cambrex’s chief scientific officer, said in a statement that LPPS allows the company to “leverage all 1.4 million liters of capacity within Cambrex to deliver peptide therapies.”
Cambrex added that it continues to invest in R&D across synthetic modalities, including peptide manufacturing innovations and new research applying artificial intelligence to oligonucleotide process optimization.