Neuland Laboratories has begun operations at the first of four planned modules at its commercial peptide manufacturing site in Hyderabad, India.
The first module provides 7,000 liters of total reactor capacity, including 750 liters for solid-phase peptide synthesis and 6,250 liters for liquid-phase peptide synthesis.
The module is designed to support production of complete peptide active pharmaceutical ingredients, including complex and long-chain peptides, from small-scale to multikilogram quantities. It can also produce crude peptides at commercial scale.
The solid-phase and liquid-phase peptide synthesis reactors are located in separate suites, allowing parallel operations. The module includes three DAC columns—one 45-centimeter column and two 60-centimeter columns—and two lyophilizers with capacities of 100 liters and 200 liters.
Neuland invested $30 million in the first module. The company said it is aligning additional investments in future modules with customer requirements.
Foundational infrastructure for a second module is already in place. Neuland said it expects to begin work ahead of its original schedule once customer requirements are finalized. The company said the configuration, instrumentation and capacity for the module are being defined with the customer whose projects will support the expansion.
Module two is planned to have total reactor capacity of up to 18,000 liters. The proposed configuration includes three 5,000-liter liquid-phase peptide synthesis reactors, either a 1,000-liter or 2,000-liter solid-phase peptide synthesis reactor, and smaller reactors of up to 1,000 liters.
Neuland said partner programs include obesity and metabolic disease, with oncology also emerging as an early-stage development area.
The company said it is exploring options to meet future peptide manufacturing demand as it develops the remaining planned modules.