CordenPharma, a global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) focused on complex drug modalities, announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire peptide API CDMO AmbioPharm. The acquisition strengthens CordenPharma’s peptide manufacturing footprint in the U.S. while adding Shanghai-based production capabilities to support global peptide supply.
Headquartered in North Augusta, South Carolina, AmbioPharm operates peptide manufacturing facilities in both South Carolina and Shanghai, China. Through the transaction, CordenPharma expands its peptide API development and manufacturing capabilities for increasingly complex peptide programs across clinical and commercial stages.
The combined platform will provide customers with broader manufacturing options across upstream and downstream peptide production, including flexible Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis (SPPS), Liquid-Phase Peptide Synthesis (LPPS), hybrid synthesis approaches, and CordenPharma’s proprietary Tag-Assisted Peptide Synthesis (TAPS) technology. The acquisition is expected to strengthen the company’s ability to support complex, long-chain, and high-purity peptide APIs.
AmbioPharm employs approximately 400 people across its two facilities. Following completion of the transaction, CordenPharma’s global network will expand beyond its existing 11 sites across Europe and North America, further increasing peptide manufacturing capacity and geographic flexibility for customers.
The North Augusta facility will become CordenPharma’s second U.S. peptide manufacturing site, adding substantial purification and lyophilization capacity for peptide APIs. The company said the site will complement operations at CordenPharma Colorado, enabling fully U.S.-based peptide API supply chains for large-scale commercial peptide projects.
Meanwhile, the Shanghai facility adds significant upstream peptide manufacturing capabilities across SPPS, LPPS, and hybrid synthesis, along with selected downstream capabilities to support clinical and commercial peptide supply worldwide.
CordenPharma noted that the acquisition expands its peptide CDMO platform across three continents and strengthens its end-to-end peptide development and manufacturing offering. Since being acquired by Astorg in 2022, the company has continued investing in peptide manufacturing infrastructure and platform expansion.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The deal remains subject to customary closing conditions. AmbioPharm shareholders are expected to reinvest into the combined company as part of the transaction.
KEY QUOTES:
“This acquisition significantly bolsters CordenPharma’s Peptides Platform with complementary capabilities and advances our strategic objective to serve as a leading peptide manufacturing partner. As peptide programs become more complex and advanced, customers value CDMO partners who can offer both upstream scientific route selection and process robustness with downstream manufacturing scale and built-in geographic flexibility. AmbioPharm’s capabilities perfectly complement our existing peptide expertise, helping us to broaden the ways we support customers from development to commercialization.”
Dr. Michael Quirmbach, President & CEO, CordenPharma Group
“Becoming part of CordenPharma marks an exciting new chapter for AmbioPharm. Together, we will be able to offer customers broader technical capabilities, increased global capacity, and a highly reliable Peptides Platform to support the development and commercialization of peptide-based medicines, delivered through a fully-integrated global facility network. Importantly, we remain focused on the patients who rely on these medicines.”
Brian Gregg, CEO, AmbioPharm
“This acquisition marks an important step in CordenPharma’s growth journey, enhancing the company’s strategic positioning and supporting significant long-term growth opportunities in peptides.”
Antoine Thomas, Director, Astorg
“This is an exciting time for the promise of peptides to help patients across the globe, and now at CordenPharma we strengthen our capabilities to deliver this promise for our partners.”
Paul Perreault, Chairman of the Board, CordenPharma
“Since our investment in AmbioPharm, we have worked closely with the company as a strategic shareholder to enhance its operations and expand its global footprint. We are incredibly proud of what AmbioPharm has achieved and are very excited about its merger with CordenPharma, given the breadth of its peptides platform and expertise. We remain confident in the strong growth potential of the global peptide CDMO market and look forward to continuing to support the combined business as it seeks to achieve the next level of success.”
Ling Yang, Partner And Head Of Healthcare, Carlyle Asia
