Peptides and oligonucleotides
Synthetic peptides and oligonucleotides: chain molecules such as semaglutide and siRNA drugs, made in tiny tonnages with very high solvent use, booming on GLP-1 demand.
Fine chemicals · Pharmaceutical · No. 96
- Product family
- not published; individual GLP-1 APIs need from about one to several tonnes a year (derived: 2.4 mg weekly semaglutide is about 125 mg per patient per year, so 10 million patients need about 1.25 t)
- HS 293790, 293499
Weight-loss drugs like semaglutide are built one amino acid at a time, using about 13,000 kg of materials per kilo.
Chart: Illustration: Peptides and oligonucleotides
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Each chain is built on a polymer resin, one unit per cycle; a 50-residue peptide needs 50 rounds of coupling and washing before HPLC purification.
Three things to know
- Ozempic sold $13.8 billion and Mounjaro $5.16 billion in 2023, driving a rush for peptide manufacturing capacity.
- Every 10 million patients on 2.4 mg weekly semaglutide need only about 1.25 t of API a year.
- Samsung Biologics bid about CHF 1.46 billion for PolyPeptide in July 2026 to enter the peptide business.
The journey
- 1 Building blocksProtected amino acids and phosphoramidites
- 2 Chain assemblyOne unit added per cycle on resin
- 3 CleavageCut from resin with trifluoroacetic acid
- 4 PurificationPreparative HPLC using large solvent volumes
- 5 MedicinesGLP-1 drugs, hormones, siRNA therapies