About

We founded ORPEGEN GmbH October 1, 1982. Our business in peptide and protein contract R & D marked the initiative concept of the HEIDELBERG TECHNOLOGY PARK, the first commercial biotech start-up cluster in Germany.

For building-up our production site we moved 1984 to Czernyring 22, south side of the Heidelberg main station, and became ORPEGEN Pharma GmbH. There we are located up to date. Our businesses expanded rapidly in the chemical manufacture of all kinds of amino acid derivatives and pharmaceutical grade peptides ( GMP ), contract R & D in protein genetic engineering , novel proprietary diagnostics in cellular immunology , and biotechnological production of recombinant glycoproteins by mammalian cell culture fermentation ( e.g. Erythropoietin and monoclonal antibodies ). This extreme growth of our businesses in terms of diversity and costs over the next two decades, after passing the millennium we started to down-regulate stepwise by sales of individual divisions, such as the pharmaceutical biotechnology, our cellular immunity diagnostics, and protein contract R & D including GMP quality control.

Only the chemical manufacture of pharmaceutical peptides and amino acid derivatives up to multiple kg scale remained operative.

January 2015 Corden Pharma International GmbH [ CPI ] in an asset deal acquired the chemical and contract R & D operations of ORPEGEN Peptide Chemicals GmbH. CPI moved to Frankfurt and closed the chemistry in Heidelberg.

However, the entire cold house stock of amino acid derivatives and peptides, which had been manufactured mostly GMP-based by ORPEGEN Pharma and its successor, ORPEGEN Peptide Chemicals [ OPC ] remained operative in Heidelberg under the direction of the owner and CEO, Prof. Dr. Christian P.E. Birr.

We are continuing the OPC operations in selling and trading our valuable products ex stock worldwide. When demanded by specific chemical requirements we are cooperating with German and other contract manufacturers to serve our customers needs. We are maintaining our close relations with international partners regarding GMP-based peptide drugs, in particular when the according API manufacture is based on ORPEGEN amino acid derivatives and know-how.