Bachem is one of the three CDMOs — alongside PolyPeptide and CordenPharma — that anchor large-scale peptide API manufacturing for the global pharma industry. The Swiss company holds an estimated 55–60% of global peptide CDMO revenue when combined with its peers, and its capacity decisions shape what the next wave of GLP-1 and macrocyclic peptide drugs can actually be supplied at scale.
The 2025–2026 build-out is sized for the GLP-1 surge and the post-503B compounding shift. Bachem's headquarters in Bubendorf is being expanded; Vista, California is scaling toward one-metric-ton production capacity; St Helens in the UK is upgrading; and a new Sisslerfeld site in Switzerland is under construction. A signed work order in late 2025 secured CHF 1 billion in peptide deliveries over five years (2025–2029). Bachem also announced an April 2026 strategic partnership and asset acquisition to scale GLP-1 and next-gen peptide API supply, and is a featured speaker at TIDES USA 2026 (May 11–14 Boston).
Stories here cover capacity expansions, contract wins, and CDMO market dynamics. See #peptide-cdmo, #manufacturing, and #tides-usa-2026.
TIDES USA 2026 — the year's leading oligo, peptide, and mRNA therapeutics conference — opens May 11–14 in Boston, with six concurrent scientific tracks and 200+ presentations. Programmatic highlights include CMC strategy for complex dual and triple agonists under regulatory scrutiny, defining defensible starting materials for GLP-1 APIs, and how CDMOs are securing scarce GMP suite capacity dominated by big-pharma volume contracts. Bachem, PolyPeptide, CordenPharma, Gilead, and Novo Nordisk teams are scheduled to speak — the same week as Hims & Hers' Q1 print and within the new AJMC oral-peptides public-facing news cycle.
ResearchAndMarkets released a Peptide and Oligonucleotide CDMO Market Research Report on April 30 forecasting the global market expanding from $2.42B in 2025 to $2.7B in 2026 (11.9% CAGR), reaching $4.03B by 2030. The report names Bachem, PolyPeptide, CordenPharma, and AmbioPharm as the dominant capacity holders capturing roughly 55–60% of global revenue. Demand for GLP-1 receptor agonists and siRNA drugs is outpacing GMP suite availability, giving CDMOs unusual pricing power in multi-year capacity contracts. The report frames manufacturing capacity as the binding constraint on the next wave of peptide therapeutics.
Swiss peptide CDMO Bachem announced a strategic partnership and asset acquisition in April 2026 to scale large-scale peptide API production. The move responds to surging demand for GLP-1 and next-generation peptide drugs — the global peptide synthesis market is now projected to reach $2.26 billion by 2033 at an 11.4% CAGR. Bachem previously secured a CHF 1 billion peptide supply contract and is operating three site expansions to address capacity constraints that have periodically disrupted semaglutide and tirzepatide supply.