To learn about pepteins, we had a conversation with Christian Schwarz, CEO and co-founder of Numaferm.  

Numaferm is a German biotech company, specializing in the production of pepteins, which are an underdeveloped class of molecules located between peptides and proteins (with a length of 30-300 amino acids). Pepteins are non-structured and complex posing a challenge for manufacturing, yet exert a high biological activity, wherefore they play an increasing role as innovative molecules in a range of industries, including animal and human health.  

To date, peptein production via chemical synthesis or recombinant approaches is cumbersome, leading to time and resource-intensive development programs. This, in combination with high production costs, limits promising peptein applications. 

The proprietary high-titer expression platform Numaswitch changes this situation and enables the access to pepteins within weeks. 

The company and Zoetis, an animal health company, recently signed a licensing agreement for the development and production of defined veterinary therapeutics.