The agreement, which stretches across the next 7 years, will see the two companies expand current oligonucleotide technologies, develop new oligonucleotide processes and contribute to global manufacturing capacity for oligonucleotide-based medicines for patients.
As part of the collaboration, Bachem will provide both engineering infrastructure and expertise to implement Lilly’s oligonucleotide manufacturing technology.
Bachem will also provide R&D and production personnel at its facilities in Bubendorf, allowing for the development of GMP-grade material for Lilly’s oligonucleotide-based medicines.
Lilly has pledged to place a range of manufacturing projects with Bachem during the next 7 years, as it’s expected that material supply demands will rapidly increase after the implementation of its manufacturing technology. In fact, the two companies predict that the annual order volume could reach up to 100 million Swiss francs, provided Bachem reaches certain milestones and definite volumes are ordered by Lilly.
Thomas Meier, CEO of Bachem, said: “We are excited about the prospects that our strategic collaboration with Lilly has for innovating how oligonucleotides are manufactured."
"Investigational medicines, based on synthetically accessible oligonucleotides, hold great promise for patients suffering from a variety of diseases. For this reason, we are proud to collaborate with Lilly to unlock the full potential of this new modality."
Therapeutic oligonucleotides can be defined as short, single or double-stranded fragments of DNA or RNA. These therapeutic oligonucleotides create new access to targets that have previously been defined as undruggable.
Through scientific research and discovery, there has been a broad expansion within drug development projects on oligonucleotide-based therapeutics. To keep up with the growth in demand, the production of oligonucleotide-based active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) is now needed at a much larger scale.
“This collaboration between Bachem and Lilly is an example of how the biopharma and CDMO industries can work together on innovative medicines. Our aim with this particular collaboration is to jointly develop tailored engineering and equipment solutions for oligonucleotides, thus improving quality and reducing manufacturing cost and time to market,” concluded Meier.
