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Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | GENengnews.com | JULY 2016 | 25 Biotage manufactures room-tempera- ture peptide synthesizers and microwave peptide synthesizers in manual, semi-au- tomated, and fully automated formats. John Urh, regional market manager for the Americas, notes that instrument sales are fat or at best growing slowly. Worldwide sales of peptide synthesizers totals between 300 and 400 units annually. Considering the number of organizations with peptide drug programs, and assuming an approxi- mately 50/50 academic/industrial split, those numbers aren't so bad. Most experts interviewed in this article note an uptick of interest in peptide drugs, particularly at large drug companies. Merck has established a peptide effort; Novartis and AstraZeneca have stepped up their pro- grams, according to Urh. One factor that may underestimate over- all interest, particularly at universities and research institutes, is the presence of cheap labor (i.e., post-docs and grad students), which makes synthesis by hand through tra- ditional solution chemistry more attractive than instrument-based synthesis. On the topic of unnatural amino acids, Urh mentions beta-peptides as growing in popularity. These molecules contain an ex- tra carbon between the carboxylate and amino groups. "They can be formed more easily into cyclic peptides," Urh says, with enhanced pharmacologic and delivery prop- erties. Also popular are "lollipop" structures composed of a cyclic molecule with a poly- peptide tail. Oxytocin, which is used to in- duce labor, is just one example of a commer- cially successful lollipop peptide. Thermo Fisher Scientifc's peptide pro- duction business may not be well known to readers, but it operates at the forefront of custom, research-use synthesis services. Pep- tide synthesis is part of the frm's mass spec- trometry reagents unit and serves a broad range of projects —about half in industry, half in academic or institute organizations. "We're seeing a spike in immunology and drug discovery applications, both from academic and industrial organizations," says Kelsey Song, project specialist. Thermo's strength is stable isotope pep- tides which, with the availability of exquisite- ly sensitive MS, have replaced radionuclides in a majority of life science applications. The company's HeavyPeptide™ AQUA products show high accuracy in quantitation studies. The workhorse isotope is 13 C, whose pres- ence is easily discerned in peptides and their metabolites from the much more abundant 12 C. The company also provides labeled or unlabeled peptide libraries and individual high-purity peptides. Capabilities include more than 400 modi- fcations of standard peptides, including L-amino acids, sidechain alterations, and CAM and Phospho variants. CAM adds sta- bility to unoxidized cysteine residues, while Phospho phosphorylates oxygen-containing amino acids such as threonine, tyrosine, and serine. Ya Chen, Ph.D., a scientist at peptide specialty frm LifeTein, explains that with the growing pipeline of peptide drugs, di- agnostics, and research reagents business is booming. The well-known problem of deg- radation in the gut limits the effectiveness of many peptide drugs, but modifying side chains serves as a good work-around for some molecules. "Modifed peptides have better resistance to both chemical and enzy- matic degradation," says Dr. Chen. Aside from common side chain modifca- tions ("unnatural" amino acids), LifeTein produces enantiomers which, according to Dr. Chen, are not in high demand these days. Other mods include phosphorylation or gly- cosylation on threonine and serine, cyclic peptides, and fuorescent tags for following peptides inside cells. LifeTein is a research-only provider, not a cGMP shop. For drug development that is further along the regulatory pathway Bachem, GenScript, and PolyPeptide offer their services. LifeTein has overhauled the entire peptide product process and developed a proprietary method that delivers purifed peptides of typ- ical length in 3–5 days versus several weeks. High-purity product takes about one week. "Our record is 159 residues, which took a month," says Dr. Chen. w w w. p o l y p e p t i d e. c o m Sales contacts: France +33 388 790 879 - Sweden +46 40 366 200 - USA +1 310 782 3569 DENMARK – FRANCE – INDIA – SWEDEN – USA T H E U L T I M AT E P E P T I D E P A R T N E R GLOBAL SUPPORT FOR A QUALITY SOLUTION At PolyPeptide, going the extra mile with our customers is a priority. Agility, global presence, flexibility, ability to create fast custom-tailored solutions, and exceeding the highest requirements, are all key benefts that you could only expect from a world leader in peptide manufacturing. Our client's success is our primary goal, with a proven track record in producing cost-effective proprietary and generic GMP grade peptides for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Our long term relationships with our customers are based on transparency and an approach to partnership which ensures that we provide global support for a quality solution! Conception .fr • © Shutterstock • © Frédérique Clément Your Peptide needs, from R&D; to GMP Manufacturing, PolyPeptide provides Global Support for a Quality Solution BIOPROCESSING