The outsourcing of peptides, short polymers of amino acids linked by peptide bonds, by leading multinational drug discovery companies is expected to witness tremendous growth in the country in the coming years as sector is witnessing rejuvenation and many of the big pharma companies are showing renewed interest in the sector, according to industry experts.

The size of the global peptide industry, with key players being the UK- based GSK and AstraZeneca, Switzerland-based Novartis, and Japanese firm Takeda, is around US $15 billion. Industry sources said that there was a lull in the sector due to the economic slowdown and the new molecule researches had also slowed down. Now the sector is witnessing rejuvenation and many of the big pharma companies are showing renewed interest in the sector.

“Big pharmaceutical companies have realized that they need to cut down the cost of research and now they are willing to discuss these with companies like us”, said, Venkat R Kalavakolanu, managing director of Jupiter Biosciences, a company involved in the synthesis of peptides starting from the basic stage to finished form. He added that earlier multinational companies were not ready for the same.

Sources opined that applications of the peptides have expanded, from drugs and vaccines to therapeutic vaccines, over the years. Its application in the stem cell research has also increased and a specific group of peptides are required for that. Jupiter Biosciences claimed that it’s the single largest producer of peptides required in the stem cell research. The therapeutic application of peptides has also increased in areas such as oncology, diabetics and oncology.

Dr Kalavakolanu said that there is good scope for companies like Jupiter and they can partner with discovery companies, from the stage of research to commercialization. The advantage for the big companies is that the overall time for development will be reduced.

It is understood that the Hyderabad-based company is in discussions with five to six leading MNCs for partnering in peptide research. It is also in the advanced stage of discussions with two global companies for research stage GMP peptide and clinical stage non-GMP peptides.