Less than a year after CordenPharma earmarked a major chunk of change to beef up in peptide manufacturing for GLP-1s and other drugs, the CDMO’s investment plan is paying off big time.
Obesity upstart Viking Therapeutics has agreed to pay a total of $150 million through 2028 to enlist CordenPharma for production of its dual GIP/GLP-1 agonist VK2735. Under the deal, CordenPharma will crank out long-term supply of both the subcutaneous and oral versions of Viking’s experimental drug.
The oral formulation of VK2735 is currently in a 13-week, phase 2 dosing trial. Meanwhile, Viking plans to advance the subcutaneous version of its obesity asset into late-stage testing in 2025’s second quarter.
Despite being a small fish in the big pond of obesity drug developers, Viking has swiftly made a name for itself thanks to the impressive midstage data on subcutaneous VK2735 it issued in early 2024.
At the time, the company reported that the highest, 15-mg dose of the injectable was linked to mean weight loss of 14.7% after 13 weeks of treatment. Accounting for the inherent uncertainties in cross-trial comparisons, those data were still strong enough to make Viking’s candidate look competitive against Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly’s respective blockbuster obesity incumbents Wegovy and Zepbound.
The company has also released positive data on the oral incarnation of its drug, where the tablet’s highest 100-mg dose helped patients achieve a mean weight loss of 6.8% over 28 days.
Viking’s agreement with CordenPharma puts the CDMO on the hook for annual supply of “multiple metric tons” of active pharmaceutical ingredients for VK2735, Viking noted in a release. CordenPharma will also be in charge of fill-finish work for both the oral and injectable versions of Viking’s asset.
Specifically, CordenPharma is expected to supply 100 million autoinjectors and 100 million vial and syringe products for subcutaneous VK2735 each year, along with an annual supply of 1 billion oral VK2735 tablets.
Viking says it can also up its orders from CordenPharma in the future, if it so chooses. The biotech will dish out the $150 million for the deal in the form of prepayments to CordenPharma from 2025 to 2028. Those prepayments will be credited against future orders, Viking noted.
"We are excited to enter into this agreement with one of the world's leading CDMOs in the peptide space," Viking’s CEO, Brian Lian, Ph.D., said in a statement. “CordenPharma's established presence in commercial peptide manufacturing gives us confidence in their ability to deliver supply commensurate with what we anticipate will be significant commercial demand.”
CordenPharma has been making a renewed push to bolster its GLP-1 pedigree for the better part of a year now.
Last July, the Swiss-based CDMO said it would invest 900 million euros ($981 million) over a three-year period to strengthen its manufacturing of GLP-1 peptides in Europe and the U.S.
As part of the plan, the company said at the time that it would build a new large-scale facility and increase the capacity at two other plants at its site in Boulder, Colorado.
More recently, CordenPharma earlier this month announced designs on a 500 million euro ($536 million) peptide facility in Basel, Switzerland, which will have multiple manufacturing lines available to support small-, medium- and large-scale projects.
The company said the plant will ultimately be able to tackle both GLP-1 and non-GLP-1 peptide contracts.