Contract manufacturing focus, Bachem’s peptide services stay in demand

Bachem’s peptide contract manufacturing services remain a core offering for biotech and pharma clients looking to scale complex peptide and oligonucleotide APIs for clinical and commercial use. The Swiss specialist is investing heavily in capacity and technology to keep up with demand.

Edited by ad hoc news New Releases & Launches Desk. Reviewed before publication on 06/16/2026 at 2:10 AM ET. Details in the imprint.

Bachem’s peptide contract manufacturing services continue to attract biotechnology and pharmaceutical developers that need reliable partners for complex active pharmaceutical ingredients, from early clinical batches to commercial-scale supply. The Swiss specialist positions its offering around GMP-grade custom peptide and oligonucleotide manufacturing, backed by decades of process know-how and a network of production sites in Europe and the US.

What Bachem’s peptide contract manufacturing offers clients

At the heart of Bachem’s service portfolio is the development and large-scale production of synthetic peptides and related complex molecules under strict GMP standards, enabling their use as active ingredients in injectable and other drug formulations. This includes process development, scale-up, analytical method development and validation, and regulatory support to help customers move from lab-scale synthesis toward commercial volumes. According to the company, its sites in Switzerland, Germany, the UK, the US and Austria are integrated into a global manufacturing network designed to support projects through all development phases, from preclinical to commercial supply, while meeting stringent quality and compliance requirements. The manufacturer highlights expertise in both standard peptide synthesis and more challenging sequences, including long-chain, highly hydrophobic or modified peptides, as well as capabilities for complex conjugates and certain oligonucleotide APIs as demand for these modalities grows. To support this, Bachem has reported ongoing investments in new production lines and capacity expansions, particularly for peptide and oligonucleotide manufacturing at its Bubendorf site and other locations, in response to rising order volumes from biotech and pharma clients in North America, Europe and Asia.

Unlike catalog peptide suppliers that primarily sell smaller research quantities, Bachem’s contract manufacturing offering is geared toward customers that intend to advance clinical candidates and market approved peptide-based drugs. The company provides tailored manufacturing solutions, starting with route scouting and process optimization to reduce cost-of-goods and improve yields, then moving into pilot and commercial-scale campaigns in reactors capable of handling multi-kilogram to multi-hundred-kilogram peptide batches. Bachem also emphasizes its analytical capabilities, including chromatographic and spectrometric methods, impurity profiling and stability studies, which are central to meeting regulatory expectations for complex peptide APIs. In recent years, management has repeatedly pointed to demand from GLP-1 and other metabolic and endocrine peptide projects as important growth drivers for the service business, while also underlining opportunities in oncology, infectious diseases and rare diseases. For biotech clients with limited in-house manufacturing infrastructure, an external partner with a track record in scaling intricate peptide synthesis routes can be a critical factor in keeping timelines and controlling costs as candidates move through Phase 1 to Phase 3 studies.

As competition in the peptide CDMO segment has intensified, Bachem seeks differentiation via its long history in the field, breadth of manufacturing scales and geographic footprint combining European and US sites. The company’s facilities are inspected by regulators such as Swissmedic and the US Food and Drug Administration for GMP compliance, and Bachem notes that its APIs are supplied into multiple approved drug products across therapeutic areas. Beyond pure manufacturing, the service package typically includes regulatory documentation support, such as preparing drug master files and responding to health authority queries, which can be resource-intensive for small and mid-sized drug developers. Bachem has also communicated plans to expand its workforce and invest in digitalization and process automation to improve throughput and reproducibility across its production network. That focus on capacity and technology upgrades is intended to address not only current demand but also anticipated future projects as more peptide and oligonucleotide candidates enter clinical pipelines globally.

For Bachem, peptide contract manufacturing is strategically important because it underpins a significant share of group revenue and positions the firm as a core partner for both large pharmaceutical companies and emerging biotechs that lack their own large-scale peptide plants. Management has framed the business as a growth driver supported by structural trends in the biologics and complex-molecules market, even though execution on capacity expansions and project timing can lead to volatility between quarters. Shares of Bachem (CH0012530207) are listed on SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich, where they most recently traded in Swiss francs.

Bachem peptide contract manufacturing at a glance

• Product: Peptide contract manufacturing services
• Manufacturer: Bachem Holding AG
• Category: New Release/Launch (services and capacity expansions)
• Launch date: Service portfolio built up over several decades; latest capacity expansions communicated in recent years
• MSRP / Price: Project-based pricing for GMP manufacturing contracts
• Availability: Global, with manufacturing sites in Switzerland, Germany, the UK, the US and Austria
• Target audience: Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies developing peptide and oligonucleotide drugs
• Key differentiator / USP: Long-standing expertise and global GMP network for scaling complex peptide APIs from development through commercial supply

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