CDMOs at the crossroads
This is a crucial moment in time for the pharmaceutical CDMO sector. We report from CPHI Frankfurt
At CPHI Frankfurt in October 2025, a panel from the worlds of pharma, CDMOs and investors came together to discuss the theme‘ CDMOs at a Crossroads: Scaling, Adapting, and Partnering for the Future’. It was moderated by Raman Seghal of Molecule to Market.
The industry is coming out of a period of shortages, including APIs, during and after COVID, noted Gil Roth, president of the Pharma & Biopharma Outsourcing Association( PBOA) in the US. China shut down at one point, India had significant problems and Italy was unable to ship API early on due to the European outbreak early on.
This tested the robustness of the supply chain in many different ways and sparked interest in alternative supply chains, particularly in generics, where China supplies the APIs and India does much of the drug product.“ Everyone wanted to see manufacture moved elsewhere
The panel discussion took place at CPHI Frankfurt
but nobody wanted to pay for it,” Roth said.
Since COVID, demand for onshoring of supply in the US has grown from both customers and successive administrations. On the CDMO side, Roth has seen a lot more interest in tech transfers to the US, making sure that the product has a US footprint, even though it might be only as a secondary manufacturer.
This supply situation has improved since COVID, said Nuria Amador, head of Europe and North America, global partners markets, at Spanish pharmaceutical firm Almirall. The industry is now seeing a massive shift from chemicals to biologics, as well as emerging challenges like gene therapy and precision medicine.
CDMOs need to adapt to all this – and fast, she said. But how can
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