Axplora bags a €50m investment to boost GLP-1 manufacturing capabilities at Mourenx, France site

The CDMO has advanced the site's infrastructure, allowing it to provide GLP-1 drug manufacturing services, as well as large-scale API industrial chemistry and chromatography services to its customers.

An unspecified customer has invested €50m into Axplora's Mourenx site, allowing the company to offer its clients contract GLP-1 manufacturing services.

The company, which specialises in large-scale API chemistry and chromatrography, will also support the development of next-generation diabetes and obesity-targeting biologics at the site.

As the obesity epidemic continues to surge worldwide, prescriptions for GLP-1 receptor agonists have become increasingly common, with the number of prescriptions for this drug type rising by 700% in non-diabetic patients.

By providing development and manufacturing services, Axplora hopes to address this crisis by getting obesity-targeting biologics to patients globally.

Axplora's Chief Commercial Officer, Arul Ramadurai, commented: "GLP-1 therapies represent a paradigm shift in medicine, offering targeted therapies for complex diseases with unprecedented efficacy and tolerability,” 

“This initiative, built on strong customer partnerships, reinforces Axplora’s role as a trusted partner in manufacturing life-changing, breakthrough medicines."

“This project is testament to our pioneering expertise in industrial chromatography, and working closely with our client, we target having the facility BLA-ready in 15 months. To achieve this our internal teams are working closely with partners in a strong cross-functional project team, well-supported by the local authorities. We are looking forward to a bright future at Mourenx,” stated Dr Pere Patón-Morales, Chief Operating Officer.

Construction at the Mourenx site is scheduled to begin immediately, and Axplora estimates that the first supply of GLP-1 therapies should reach the market by 2026.

(Source: ISPE)