JPT Peptide Technologies GmbH Files Prospectus Highlighting Its Role in Peptide-Based Biomarker Discovery and Vaccine Development Following BioNTech Acquisition

Peptide drugs have increasingly become a focal point in global new drug development. However, the high barriers to research and development (R&D) and manufacturing pose significant challenges to peptide drug developers, making it imperative to partner with reliable CRO/CDMO firms.

JPT Peptide Technologies GmbH (hereinafter referred to as “JPT”), established in 2004, is a comprehensive provider of innovative peptide research tools and services for biomarker discovery, immune monitoring, and vaccine development.

Leveraging its extensive expertise accumulated over many years in the peptide field, JPT was acquired by the European biopharmaceutical giant BioNTech. Operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary, JPT continues to provide a range of high-quality custom peptides, clinical-grade peptides, and peptide-based innovative products. Its peptide reagents are widely used in applications such as immunology, proteomics, and drug discovery.

Peptide drugs have increasingly become a focal point in global new drug development. However, R&D in this field started relatively late, and the high entry barriers—driven by technical hurdles and stringent requirements for R&D capabilities, manufacturing processes, and equipment—make it particularly challenging to start from scratch. Consequently, pharmaceutical companies such as Eli Lilly and Bayer have actively acquired specialized, mid-to-large-scale companies focused on peptide therapeutics to rapidly establish their presence in the peptide sector.

Acquisition Events in the Peptide Field (Based on Incomplete Statistics; Source: Internet)

JPT is a wholly-owned subsidiary established by Jerini, a German peptide drug development company. Jerini possesses extensive experience and robust capabilities in peptide drug research and development. Founded in 1994, Jerini was listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2005. Its core product, icatibant, is a selective bradykinin B2 receptor antagonist that was first approved by the European Union in 2008 for the treatment of acute attacks of hereditary angioedema (HAE) under the brand name FIRAZYR. According to incomplete statistics, icatibant has currently been approved in approximately 40 countries, including the United States, the European Union, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Israel, and Denmark.

Leveraging its parent company’s expertise in peptide drug development, JPT primarily provides innovative peptide research tools and services for biomarker discovery, immune monitoring, and vaccine development.

Following its parent company’s acquisition in July 2008, JPT faced a similar fate and was acquired in 2009 by Theracode, a wholly owned subsidiary of the European biopharmaceutical giant BioNTech. Although it became a division of Theracode, JPT retained all its production facilities, staff, and contractual obligations, continuing to operate under the name JPT Peptide Technologies.

JPT currently has three Managing Directors: Dr. Holger Wenschuh, Sean Marett, and Dr. Sierk Poetting.

Dr. Holger Wenschuh has served as Managing Director of JPT since the company’s founding in 2004. Previously, he was Business Unit Manager at Jerini and Managing Director of Chemotopix. He also worked at the University of Massachusetts in the United States, the biotechnology company Perseptive Biosystems, and the Peptide Department of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. Dr. Wenschuh studied chemistry at Friedrich Schiller University Jena in Germany and earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Research Institute of Molecular Pharmacology in Berlin, Germany.

Sean Marett has approximately 30 years of international experience in operations management, sales and marketing licensing, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and new product development. He has held positions at major pharmaceutical companies such as GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer, and has engaged in contract research, development, and manufacturing (CRDM) for companies including Evotec and NextPharma. He has successfully executed multiple licensing deals with large pharmaceutical companies, completed major pharmaceutical services transactions, and negotiated numerous M&A deals.

Dr. Sierk Poetting holds a Master’s and Ph.D. in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona, as well as a Ph.D. in Physics from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He previously served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Novartis’ Sandoz division in North America, and as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of BioNTech.

JPT has now grown to a team of over 100 employees, boasting numerous talents with extensive expertise in fields related to peptide applications.

 JPT Team Members (Image Source: JPT Official Website)

History of JPT (Data source: JPT official website)

JPT has over 15 years of experience in the peptide industry, offering a comprehensive portfolio of high-quality custom peptides, clinical-grade peptides, and peptide-based innovative products.

JPT Peptide Technologies offers a diverse portfolio of unique peptide-based technologies. Compared with other methods available on the market, JPT’s technologies enable monitoring of single-epitope patterns and epitope spreading, while addressing natural sequence diversity and post-translational modifications. They also facilitate systematic, proteome-wide discovery of B-cell and T-cell biomarkers, immune monitoring, and the clinical development of immunotherapies and vaccines. Currently, JPT’s tools and expertise have been successfully applied in various projects, bringing novel approaches to indications such as cancer, infectious diseases, autoimmune disorders, and allergies.

Products and Services (Data Source:JPTOfficial Website）

JPT’s peptide arrays include PepStar™ peptide microarrays, peptides on cellulose (PepSpots), and enzyme substrate arrays.

JPT's Peptide Arrays

JPT’s peptide portfolio primarily includes the PepMix peptide library, the SpotMix antigen discovery pool, NeoSpikeMix for immunopeptidomics, and SpikeMix for targeted proteomics.

JPT's Peptide Pool

JPT has been committed to innovation in customized peptide services and peptide applications, with its product catalog undergoing continuous updates. For instance, in 2022, to address diseases such as monkeypox and cowpox, JPT developed a new PepMix Pan-Orthopoxvirus Select Peptide Pool, which includes 127 immunodominant peptide epitopes covering major antigens from the monkeypox virus, cowpox virus, and variola virus. In the same year, JPT also added new products to its PepMix peptide library, including the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.4/BA.5 Spike antigen.

As the company has grown, JPT has expanded its indications into a full spectrum of areas, including infections, antibody services, allergies, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, autoimmune diseases, and gene therapy, with a commitment to providing comprehensive peptide products and services.