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Press release

At Bachem, we are committed to sustainability by taking responsibility towards our employees, society, and the environment. We aim to redesign our processes to minimize the use and generation of hazardous substances and reduce the environmental impact. In the pharmaceutical industry, solvent consumption contributes significantly to the environmental footprint. Research is therefore conducted to decrease solvent volumes or replace hazardous solvents with more environmentally benign alternatives.

Replacing gold standard solvents to provide a greener alternative

In an effort to make the SPPS a greener technology, we conducted, in collaboration with our partner Novo Nordisk, three studies to propose solvent alternatives to replace the reprotoxic N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), dichloromethane (DCM), and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP). These solvents are considered the gold standards in SPPS processes for academic research and industrial production facilities alike. They have excellent solubilization and stability properties for reagents and are the best choice in terms of resin swelling. However, they are restricted by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) due to their hazardous nature. Replacing DMF, DCM, and NMP with a greener alternative represents a major challenge but also offers a significant opportunity to reduce the environmental footprint of peptide manufacturing processes.

2nd of July

Al-Marsad newspaper: Dr. Mashouh Abdullah Al-Mashouh, Secretary of the Saudi Society for Food and Nutrition, revealed that the weekly basal insulin "Awiqli" was recently registered with the Saudi Food and Drug Authority.

He explained that this drug is produced by Novo Nordisk, and it is the first basal (long-acting) insulin to be injected once a week for adults with type 2 diabetes, as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve blood sugar control

GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA) medications can reduce the number of deaths, amputations and hospitalisations among patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and type 2 diabetes, according to new, independent research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA).

In this study, researchers reviewed the health records for more than 2,000 adults with PAD and type 2 diabetes to explore the potential benefits of GLP-1 RA medications. They found that the positive impact of GLP-1 RAs on overall health surpassed that of metformin, the most widely prescribed medication for people with type 2 diabetes, in most categories.

Compared with people taking metformin, among those taking GLP-1 RAs, the analysis found a 26% reduction in all causes of death; a 13% reduction in hospitalisations; up to a 48% reduction in amputations; and about 36% reduction in the need for revascularisation. However, the rate of heart attack, stroke and serious kidney events were similar between both groups.

Researchers noted that the link between GLP1-RAs and medical benefits was strongest among participants with severe PAD, including chronic limb-threatening ischaemia (CLTI) and those with a body mass index of 30 or higher, which is considered obesity.

“Obesity and PAD, including chronic limb-threatening ischaemia, are linked to increased inflammation, poor blood vessel function, insulin resistance, oxidative stress and faster hardening of the arteries,” said study co-author Akiva Rosenzveig, a cardiology fellow at the Cleveland Clinic. “These results indicate GLP1-RAs can help reduce inflammation, improve blood vessel function and manage blood sugar levels.”

The study’s strengths include analysing a large group of people and examining both death rates and issues related to limbs. For the comparison group, participants had to have received at least five metformin prescriptions and no GLP-1 RA prescriptions during the study period. This approach strengthened the analysis results, according to Nanjundappa and colleagues.

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This study looked strictly at pure GLP-1 RAs from 2010 to 2025. Because it tracks up to 5-year outcomes per patient, Tirzepatide (Mounjaro/Zepbound) was not part of the dataset.

The massive clinical benefit seen here (the 48% reduction in amputations) belongs fundamentally to the drug class that Novo Nordisk pioneered and has historically dominated with semaglutide (Ozempic).

2nd of July

Since April 2026, Salima Yakhlef has been managing the Novo Nordisk plant in Chartres (Eure-et-Loir), which is undergoing a €2.1 billion investment plan to expand its surface area from 110,000 to 230,000 m² by 2028. The plant is strengthening its production capacity for treatments against diabetes and obesity. Having arrived at the site in 2015, she became the first French woman to head it.

Supporting the expansion of one of Novo Nordisk's main sites is the objective assigned to Salima Yakhlef. Since April 2026, she has been managing the Chartres (Eure-et-Loir) plant, which is the subject of a 2.1 billion euro investment to double its surface area by 2028. "We are the group's first strategic site to have been established outside of Denmark , " she recalls about this complex inaugurated in 1961 , which has become the largest private employer in Eure-et-Loir.