Where Does Peptide Manufacturing Need to Go?
The peptide and oligonucleotide (TIDES) manufacturing market has been niche, with average production sizes of a few kilograms of API. However, peptide-based drugs might need to serve up to a billion people by 2030, with a forecasted global demand of 80–120 tons. This necessitates a shift towards large-scale manufacturing. The high cost of these complex molecules creates barriers for global adoption and strains healthcare systems. Capacity and capability expansions will face challenges in supply chain logistics, starting materials, and waste management.

A comprehensive assessment of synthetic peptide environmental metrics found that solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) has a high process mass intensity (≈ 13,000) (4). SPPS involves excess solvents and reagents, negatively impacting the environment, highlighting the need for newer technologies to reduce the environmental footpri ... ...