Constructive Bio wins fresh funding as it targets markets worth multibillions
The £1.1 million initiative is supported by Innovate UK funding as part of the Sustainable Medicines Manufacturing Innovation: Collaborative R & D competition.
The collaboration will see Constructive Bio team up with scale-up experts at the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI). Constructive Bio operates at the cutting edge of biotechnology, leveraging its groundbreaking cellular biofactories to meet the surging global demand for blockbuster weight loss and diabetes treatments and delivering precision-engineered, high-value peptides at an unprecedented scale.
Therapeutic peptides like semaglutide and tirzepatide, GLP-1 agonists marketed under brand names such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro and Zepbound, have rapidly grown in popularity due to their versatile applications and efficacy against conditions such as type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Demand for these therapies is surging, with the GLP-1 market alone projected to reach $100 billion annually by 2030. This trend has already led to a significant shortage of semaglutide and tirzepatide in the global supply chain.
The current leading therapeutic peptide manufacturing method, known as solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) relies on resource-intensive chemical synthesis processes to incorporate non-natural amino acids and related chemistries and generates significant harmful chemical waste.
Recent analysis estimates that this method generates a staggering 13 tonnes of waste for every kilogram of the active ingredient. Constructive Bio’s platform offers a new biomanufacturing alternative to chemical synthesis, with the potential to shift the existing solvent-reliant process to a more sustainable, primarily aqueous manufacturing route.
Constructive Bio CEO, Ola Wlodek said: “This project demonstrates a compelling application of our technology. At Constructive Bio we can engineer peptides with highly complex building blocks using living organisms in bioprocesses.
“By bridging the gap between chemistry and biology we deliver a green, scalable, and sustainable approach to pharmaceutical manufacturing—powered by cutting-edge science.”
As part of the project, Constructive Bio will partner with the Centre for Process Innovation. Constructive Bio will use its platform to incorporate non-natural chemistries into GLP-1 peptides in their recoded strain of E. coli, Syn61, optimising at bench scale.
CPI will then leverage its dedicated facilities and extensive expertise to enable scaled-up fermentation up to 100L volumes.
The initiative aligns with the UK government’s priorities to support green manufacturing and strengthen the country’s life science sector.
By addressing the challenges associated with therapeutic peptide production, Constructive Bio and CPI are setting a new standard for sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing while bolstering the UK’s position as a global leader in life sciences innovation.