Gold Rush in Oral Peptides: “Everybody Wants In”

– Once people know there’s a pill, they want a pill. Injections alone are no longer enough. That’s where we come in, says Florian Föger, CEO of the Austrian drug delivery company Cyprumed.

Everything changed when Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk succeeded in developing semaglutide — the substance world-famous through Ozempic – in tablet form.

What had long been considered technically difficult, expensive and commercially questionable suddenly became one of the hottest areas in the pharmaceutical industry, largely driven by the rapidly growing markets for obesity and diabetes treatments.

Florian Föger has been part of shaping the field, including during his time as Head of Oral Formulation Research at Novo Nordisk.

He has just returned from a peptide conference in Boston, while back home in Innsbruck his own company, Cyprumed, has outgrown its previous offices and moved into a new life science center.

– It really feels like a gold rush right now. Everybody wants in, says Florian Föger.

So, what exactly is the entire industry trying to crack?

The problem is that when peptides are swallowed as tablets, the body breaks down large parts of the substances before they can be absorbed. In Novo Nordisk’s tablet, only around 1 percent of the active ingredient actually reaches the bloodstream.

– The body treats peptides like food and immediately starts breaking them down. At the same time, the molecules are too large to be absorbed, says the CEO.

That is the challenge Cyprumed has specialized in solving for pharmaceutical companies.

The company’s technology is built around controlling exactly where in the gastrointestinal tract the drug is released. That matters because the environment changes dramatically throughout the body — from the acidic conditions of the stomach to different levels of enzymes, fluid and pH further down the intestine.

Using a protective coating, Cyprumed’s tablets can pass through the stomach and release the peptide where conditions for absorption are most favorable.

The tablet also contains compounds that temporarily open up the cells of the intestinal wall to help the peptide pass into the body. The technology is also designed to work even if the patient has recently eaten or had something to drink.

Today, Cyprumed works with around ten major pharmaceutical companies and another ten biotech firms. Among its partners is U.S. pharma giant Merck, which earlier this year signed a deal with Cyprumed worth up to several hundred million dollars.

So far, the peptide boom has been driven mainly by obesity, diabetes and metabolic diseases. But interest is now growing rapidly in areas such as cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases as well.

For Cyprumed, the next major milestone will be the first clinical trials in humans, which one of their partner companies are planning to begin later this year.

– There’s a lot of hype and a lot happening right now, says Florian Föger.

– But for us, it ultimately comes down to something very simple: building technology that can help create medicines that improve people’s everyday lives. That’s what we’re working for.