Producer
CordenPharma
Swiss CDMO operating European and US API manufacturing sites; primary lipid partner for Moderna; manufactures SM-102 and full LNP lipid component portfolio including ionizable, PEGylated, phosphocholine, and plant sterols; claims largest complex lipid capacity globally
4
Inputs supplied
2
Goods downstream
1
Facilities
0
Stories
What they make
4 inputs CordenPharma supplies
Click an input to see every good that depends on it, every country that produces it, and every other company in the supply chain.
chemical
Ionizable Lipids for LNP Delivery (ALC-0315 / SM-102 type) →
chemical
Lipid nanoparticle (LNP) lipid components →
pharmaceutical
GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Peptide API (Semaglutide / Liraglutide Type) →
pharmaceutical
Injectable Hospital Antibiotics (Vancomycin, Pip-Tazo, Cefepime) →
Where it shows up
Goods downstream
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What else they do
Business segments
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Lipids for LNP mRNA Drug Delivery
28%Therapeutic Peptide APIs (GLP-1, Oncology)
25%Small Molecule APIs (Carbohydrate & Fatty Acid Chemistry)
22%Beta-Lactam Antibiotics & HPAPIs
25%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains — chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2023
CordenPharma's Plankstadt Germany facility — built around complex lipid and peptide synthesis — is simultaneously (1) the primary supplier of LNP lipid components for Moderna's mRNA vaccine pipeline, and (2) a key contract manufacturer ramping to supply GLP-1 receptor agonist peptide APIs for obesity drugs. These are completely separate pharmaceutical platforms: mRNA vaccine delivery technology (where lipids form the delivery nanoparticle) and obesity/diabetes drugs (where the API itself is a fatty acid-modified peptide). In both cases, the enabling chemistry is lipid and peptide synthesis — CordenPharma's original competency built for routine pharmaceutical outsourcing. A single Swiss/German CDMO with deep lipid chemistry expertise has ended up as a critical supplier to both the largest vaccine manufacturing platform of the 2020s AND the largest pharmaceutical market expansion of the 2020s.
CordenPharma International ↗Capacity2023
CordenPharma's Bergamo, Italy facility is one of the last remaining European manufacturers of beta-lactam antibiotic APIs — the class covering penicillins, ampicillins, and amoxicillins. Over the past 30 years, the vast majority of beta-lactam API production shifted to China (primarily Shijiazhuang Pharma Group, CSPC, and North China Pharmaceutical) and India, leaving Europe with almost no domestic antibiotic API manufacturing. European and US health authorities have flagged this as a critical supply chain vulnerability — demonstrated during COVID-19 when Chinese API plant shutdowns caused injectable antibiotic shortages in European hospitals. CordenPharma's Italian beta-lactam capacity represents one of the few European anchors remaining in antibiotic API manufacturing — strategically important for pandemic preparedness and supply chain resilience but commercially fragile given price competition from Asian producers.
CordenPharma International ↗Origin2023
CordenPharma International grew out of the Degussa/Evonik spin-off of pharmaceutical synthesis sites in 2006 and the subsequent acquisition by International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG). ICIG assembled a portfolio of specialty pharma manufacturing sites across Switzerland (Liestal), Germany (Plankstadt, de Haen/Hannover), Italy (Bergamo), and the US (Boulder and Aurora, Colorado — formerly AMPAC Fine Chemicals). The company built its lipid chemistry expertise from foundational phospholipid and fatty acid synthesis for pharmaceuticals — which positioned it uniquely for mRNA vaccine manufacturing when Moderna chose SM-102 as its ionizable lipid and needed an external manufacturer for LNP components. The same lipid synthesis chemistry that has always been core to CordenPharma now serves the most consequential pharmaceutical platform of the decade.
CordenPharma International ↗