Water-Based Peptide Synthesis Could Slash GLP-1 Drug Manufacturing Waste

A Nature Sustainability paper reports that producing GLP-1 weight‑loss drugs (e.g., Ozempic) with traditional solid‑phase peptide synthesis releases large amounts of toxic solvents and plastic byproducts. Melbourne researchers have developed a water‑based peptide synthesis approach that could dramatically reduce waste and make manufacturing more sustainable, though it remains to be scaled commercially for thousands of peptide drugs.