Beyond Biotech - the podcast from Labiotech

Beyond Biotech podcast 58: Pepteins

Aug 11, 2023

In this episode, Christian Schwarz, CEO and co-founder of Numaferm, shares insights on pepteins, an underdeveloped class of molecules with high biological activity. They discuss the challenges of manufacturing pepteins, their potential applications in various industries, and the unique biochemical production platform developed by Numaferm. The podcast also explores the use of peptides and nanobodies in drug development and the role of artificial intelligence in protein and peptide development. Additionally, they touch upon global market presence, regulatory issues, and sustainability changes.

19:56

Episode guests

Christian Schwarz

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Pep-teens, a niche between peptides and proteins, have unique functionalities and characteristics, and their application potential extends to industries such as synthetic meat, drug development, and vaccines against diseases like COVID-19.

Numaferm offers a revolutionary production platform for pep-teens using a biochemical system that trains cells to produce them without aggregation, providing cost-effective and efficient methods for industries like pharmaceuticals, biotech, agriculture, and cosmetics.

Deep dives

What are pep-teens?

Pep-teens are a newly created term to describe a niche between peptides and proteins. They have unique functionalities and characteristics, being smaller than proteins but larger than peptides. The manufacturing of pep-teens is challenging, as chemical synthesis and microbial systems struggle to produce them efficiently. The application of pep-teens is currently limited but shows potential in various areas such as the synthetic meat industry, drug development, and vaccines against diseases like COVID-19.

Introduction

3min

The Unique Properties and Potential Applications of Pepteins

2min

Biochemical Production Platform for Peptides

7min

Advancement of Peptides and AI in Protein Development

5min

Global Market Presence, Regulatory Issues, and Sustainability Changes

3min

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.

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