Major companies in the peptide drug industry: Aileen (002821), Nuotai Biotech (688076), Hanyu Pharmaceutical (300199), Shuangcheng Pharmaceutical (002693), Senno Biotech (688117), China Peptide Biochemical, and Ambio

Pharmaceuticals and other core data of this article: application fields, competition landscape, market size, CXO track players have deployed peptides. In the 2021 semi-annual report, Asymchem is consolidating the main track of small molecule CDMO, while actively expanding its CDMO capabilities to

New business areas: chemical macromolecule business such as peptides and oligonucleotides.

In addition, WuXi AppTec also stated that it will continue to invest heavily to further strengthen its service capabilities for new molecular types such as PROTACs, oligonucleotide drugs, peptide drugs, antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), dual antibodies, cell and gene therapies.

Definition: Peptide drugs combine the advantages of small molecule chemicals and protein drugs. Peptides are bioactive substances involved in various cell functions in organisms and are indispensable participants in life activities. Currently, more than 7,000 natural peptides have been discovered.

Involving various fields such as hormones, nerves, cell growth and reproduction, it is widely involved in and regulates the functional activities of various systems, organs and cells in the human body. Various human endocrine hormones, such as thyroxine, insulin, pituitary hormones, neuropeptides, brain

Orphins, growth factors, progesterone, etc. are all polypeptide substances.

From the perspective of application fields, peptides have been widely used in many fields such as medicine, food, health products, cosmetics, biomaterials, and biopesticides. Among them, the applications of peptides in the medical field mainly include peptide drugs, peptide vaccines, and peptide diagnostics.

Reagents, etc.

Peptide drugs refer to polypeptides with specific therapeutic effects through chemical synthesis, genetic recombination, or extraction from animals and plants. They are specific applications of polypeptides in the medical field.

Peptide drugs are mainly derived from endogenous peptides or other natural peptides. They have clear structures and clear mechanisms of action. Compared with ordinary small molecule drugs, they have higher activity and stronger selectivity. They have obvious advantages in treating complex diseases.

And because the peptide itself is a compound composed of amino acids, its metabolites are amino acids, which generally have no or very small side effects on the human body. Compared with protein drugs, peptide drugs have relatively good stability, high purity, low production cost, and immunogenicity.

It has the advantages of lower toxicity or no immunogenicity, and the quality control level can be close to that of traditional small molecule drugs. In the drug development stage, the affinity, solubility, and pharmacokinetic properties of drug candidates can also be improved through chemical modification.

(stability), toxicity, etc., to support rapid screening of drug candidates.

In short, peptide drugs combine the advantages of small molecule drugs and protein drugs. They have the advantages of good stability, strong specificity, low impurities, good efficacy, and low toxic and side effects. They can widely act on the endocrine system, immune system,

Digestive system, cardiovascular system, blood system, musculoskeletal system, etc.

Application areas: Mainly distributed in 7 major disease treatment fields. Polypeptide drugs are mainly used to treat chronic diseases. Currently, international peptide drugs are mainly distributed in 7 major disease treatment fields, including rare diseases, tumors, diabetes, gastrointestinal tract, orthopedics,

Immunity, cardiovascular diseases, etc. Among them, rare diseases, tumors and diabetes are the "troika" driving the peptide drug market. There are also blockbuster varieties on the market in the remaining four fields. Representative varieties include liraglutide and dulaglutide.

, semaglutide, leuprolide, teriparatide, octreotide, exenatide, etc.

Market size: Market development is slow. Currently, the main developers of peptide drugs are the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, including NovoNordisk and EliLilly.

According to Frost & Sullivan, the two leading developers of peptide drugs adopt distinct development and production strategies.

NovoNordisk produces most of its products in-house and tends to avoid partnerships with CMOs/CDMOs.

Instead, EliLily uses third-party service providers for the production and finishing of certain active ingredients.

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that do not have the technical expertise and in-house production facilities to meet regulatory requirements also rely on peptide CDMOs to produce peptide APIs.

In addition, outsourcing the development and production of peptides to external service providers can provide certain advantages to peptide pharmaceutical companies seeking to achieve efficient production in their peptide drug development projects.

External peptide drug production and R&D service providers have professional talents and knowledge, advanced equipment and methods, customized development and production capabilities, and have the advantages of quality, cost and risk control systems.

Therefore, the trend of outsourcing the development and production of peptide drugs to external service providers is expected to continue in the coming years due to the growing demand for peptide CDMO services.

According to data from Frost & Sullivan, China's peptide CDMO market size fluctuated from US$100 million in 2016 to US$100 million in 2020, which is far lower than the global growth rate.