As drug manufacturing becomes increasingly complex, supplier-to-supplier partnerships are enabling CDMOs to provide stronger, more comprehensive offerings to sponsors. Bora Pharmaceuticals and Corealis Pharma formed a strategic alliance in December 2025 to create a seamless, end-to-end solution for oral solid dose development and manufacturing. This partnership combines Bora’s global commercial infrastructure, scale-up expertise, and reliability with Corealis’s early-phase development and clinical-scale manufacturing capabilities. The collaboration aims to simplify the drug development process, offering a more scalable and efficient pathway from early development to commercial launch, ultimately bringing new medicines to patients faster.
In this Q&A, Bora CCO Jean-Baptiste Agnus and David Leroux-Peterson, CEO of Corealis Pharma, outline the drivers of their organizations’ collaboration and what it means for the pharma sponsors they support.
What ultimately led to the partnership between Bora Pharmaceuticals and Corealis Pharma?
D: The alliance came together naturally through a shared mission of better supporting clients in their development pathways. The “why” behind the collaboration centers on how our client-centric approaches and capabilities can deliver what sponsors need today: speed, reduced risk, seamless early‑phase support, and scalable commercialization. The “how” is grounded in practical execution: technical visits to align processes, equipment assessments to ensure consistency across sites. By integrating complementary centers of excellence and bringing specialists together for an end-to-end experience, we can help promising therapies progress efficiently and, ultimately, reach patients sooner.
When you think about the day-to-day reality of this partnership, how do you coordinate across your specialties–early development and commercialization—what does that handoff or integration actually look like in practice?
JB: The key is that the ‘handoff’ is no longer a handoff at all. We operate with shared program teams from day one—development, technical, quality, and project management—so commercial considerations are built into early formulation and process decisions. We use aligned timelines, joint governance, and coordinated tech transfer planning, which significantly reduce surprises later in Phase III or commercial readiness. From the client’s perspective, the experience feels continuous rather than sequential.
This integrated approach aims to reduce the typical friction points and delays associated with transitioning between different CDMOs, providing a more efficient and reliable pathway for drug development.
D: Our focus is on understanding where each client is in their development pathway and building a clear, actionable plan that demonstrates how our strategic alliance with Bora can directly advance their scale-up efforts.
From an operational and strategic standpoint, what have been the most important factors in making this type of CDMO-to-CDMO collaboration effective?
JB: There are three that matter most: First, complementary, not overlapping capabilities, so each partner is clearly additive. Second, shared governance and accountability, including a unified steering committee and coordinated technical teams. Third, commercial and operational alignment, meaning we quote together, plan together, and execute against the same success metrics. Without those elements, partnerships tend to remain superficial.
D: Resources to invest in creating processes to streamline the transfer/scale-up are also critical to effective change management. I would also emphasize the importance of full leadership support, clear external messaging, and simplified engagement for clients.
Are there particular considerations that need to be addressed in partnerships like this—such as IP protection, data transparency, or quality ownership—when multiple organizations are involved?
JB: These critical considerations are meticulously addressed through comprehensive contracts and quality agreements. We clearly define IP ownership, establish robust data exchange mechanisms, and delineate specific responsibilities for quality assurance and control to ensure consistent standards and regulatory compliance across both organizations. Proactive management of these areas is vital for success.
Have there been challenges you’ve had to overcome, or are still working through, as part of building and maintaining this kind of partnership?
D: This partnership is inherently designed to solve many of the challenges our clients face surrounding risk, timelines, scalability, technology transfer, and overall complexity. We make it simpler through an elevated, highly coordinated approach.
What differentiates a CDMO that’s good at collaborating from one that isn’t?
JB: Great collaborators are client‑centric first and ego‑free second. They’re willing to design solutions around the program, not their internal org chart. Our collaboration with Corealis is built around similar company cultures: we are flexible and proactive in problem-solving, always keeping the end goal in mind.
D: Collaboration also requires the ability to make an honest self-assessment about your organization’s internal strengths and what areas would be best served through a collaboration. Building and maintaining a partnership requires strong leadership, communication that transcends teams, and a high degree of flexibility.