ORPEGEN GmbH was founded in 1982 by Professor Dr. Christian Birr. He transferred his entire research activities from the Max-Planck-Institute for Medical Research into the Contract Research Department of ORPEGEN Medizinisch-Molekularbiologische Forschungsgesellschaft m.b.H, the forerunner of ORPEGEN Pharma.

In 1984, the founder was awarded the Technology Transfer Prize by the Federal Minister for Research and Technology in honor of his successful know-how transfer from science into economy. In 1995, Professor Birr became appointed by the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany to serve in his Council for Research, Technology and Innovation.

ORPEGEN, right from the start, offered the possibility of carrying out contract research in the fields of immunology, protein chemistry, micro and molecular biology. But, also from the beginning, the company started to produce basic amino acid products and peptides in multiple kg up to ton quantities.

The company ORPEGEN Pharma complies with all criteria specified by the Pharmaceutical Inspection Convention (PIC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the new German Gene Technology Law. The production facilities are approved for the bulk production of peptides and proteins for pharmaceutical purposes.

In 1988 the company moved into the development and production of recombinant human Erythropoietin (rhEPO) and provided this glycoprotein in quantities for clinical trials in Europe of the German contractor up to phase III.

ORPEGEN Pharma continues to perform R&D on recombinant glycoproteins for drug development, currently engaged in some biotech projects. By synthetic means the company produces pharmaceutical peptides, such as generic peptide hormones and proprietary thymic peptide drug candidates. Based on its expertise in immunologically applied flow cytometry, the company has developed a new line of proprietary diagnostic systems of clinical relevance, such as PHAGOTEST, BURSTTEST (PHAGOBURST, LDL-RECEPTORTEST, NK TEST , BASOTEST and MIGRATEST