SK pharmteco Invests in California Site to Overcome Peptide Purification Bottlenecks

Contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) SK pharmteco has announced a $6.1 million investment in its Rancho Cordova, Calif., facility to expand its capabilities in solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) and purification. The move establishes new laboratory and current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) kilo-scale operations and reflects the company’s broader effort to reinforce United States domestic peptide production capacity, according to an Oct. 23, 2025 company press release (1).

For developers and manufacturers of peptide-based drugs, this investment addresses a persistent challenge in the supply chain—the limited availability of reliable, large-scale peptide production and purification within the US. Peptide-based drugs are a class of therapeutics increasingly central to targeted and precision medicine.

“The investment in our California facility represents a key milestone in our strategic growth and demonstrates an unwavering dedication to the domestic biopharma sector,” said Joerg Ahlgrimm, CEO, SK pharmteco, in the press release (1). “Peptides are a vital and rapidly advancing therapeutic category. This project highlights our ongoing commitment to furthering their development and manufacturing.”

Why are peptides a bottleneck in drug development?

While SPPS is well established at the laboratory level, scaling up remains a complex and resource-intensive process. The main bottleneck often arises during purification, when separating target molecules from impurities becomes unpredictable at higher volumes. This variability can delay timelines for clinical and commercial supply, making high-throughput purification a critical technical capability for CDMOs (2).

SK pharmteco’s investment specifically targets this bottleneck by leveraging its proprietary chromatography expertise, which is an area where the company has established a reputation for innovation. By integrating development, synthesis, and purification under one roof, the expansion enables a seamless path from early process development to large-scale production (1).

What does this investment mean for the biopharmaceutical supply chain?

The expanded California site not only increases US-based manufacturing resilience but also complements SK pharmteco’s global manufacturing network, including a $260 million small-molecule and peptide production facility under construction in South Korea (3). This dual-site strategy enhances both regional and global supply reliability for APIs, an area in which manufacturing concentration abroad has long been a strategic vulnerability for the biopharmaceutical industry (4).

“We are expanding our capacity to meet the increasing demand for high-quality, secure US manufacturing, with this investment and others to come,” Ahlgrimm said in the release. “While many companies are now committing to expanding capacity in the US, CDMOs like SK pharmteco remain a vital part of the supply chain, both now and in the future. Our stronger network accelerates the journey from discovery to commercial production, boosting the resilience of domestic manufacturing to deliver essential medicines more quickly to patients.”

The new lab in the California site is slated to begin operations in January 2026, with the kilo-scale facility following in the second half of that year. For biopharmaceutical developers seeking dependable US-based partners, this initiative signals an important evolution in how complex peptides are developed, purified, and brought to market—an advancement that may reshape the domestic manufacturing landscape moving forward (1).

SK pharmteco will be at CPHI Frankfurt, being held Oct. 28–30, 2025. Attendees can visit the company at stand 6.1C6 in the Contract Manufacturing and Services zone.

References

1. SK pharmteco. SK pharmteco Boosts Domestic Peptide Scale-Up with Investment in California Facility. Press Release. Oct. 23. 2025.
2. Wang, L.; Wang, N.; Zhang, W.; et al. Therapeutic Peptides: Current Applications and Future Directions. Signal Transduction Targeted Ther. 2022, 7, 48 (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41392-022-00904-4
3. SK pharmteco. SK pharmteco Invests $260 Million to Expand Global Small Molecule and Peptide Production. Press Release. Sept. 30, 2024.
4. Javarayee, P.; Meylor, J.; Shahrukh, S.; et al. US Generic Antiseizure Medication Supply Chain: Observations from Analysis of US Government Databases. Seizure: European Journal of Epilepsy 2024, 117, 83–89. DOI: 10.1016/j.seizure.2024.02.003