Contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) have been on the rise in the last decade. Historically, CDMOs operated on a business model which predominantly focused on serving as external service providers for manufacturing pharmaceuticals. This model included the addition of capacity by the acquisition of manufacturing facilities from (bio)pharma companies or own capital investments. However, CDMOs have increasingly become innovation leaders and cover more areas of the pharma business, not just manufacturing, opening up additional revenue streams.

This change of focus has been accompanied by a change in the M&A landscape in the market. Some CDMOs are expanding their services and swapping their “contracts” for “partnerships”, evolving the term “CDMO” into “PDMO.” By getting closer to their partners, CDMOs can move past some of the pressure and offer consultative support or innovation to develop products in new ways.
The evolution of the CDMO sector is propelled by rising manufacturing standards, the advent of groundbreaking therapies, and a shift towards personalized medicine.

CHEManager asked executives and industry experts from a broad range of CDMOs to share their views on how their companies are dealing with this changing economic environment and the resulting opportunities and challenges. We proposed to discuss the following aspects:

• (How) have the rules of the CDMO market changed since the pandemic of 2020/21?
• What do you consider the most important growth drivers for CDMOs?
• What is your company’s strategy to grow the market share in the CDMO industry?

Meeting the Evolving Demands of the Pharma Landscape

Yu Lu, WuXi STA: In the post-pandemic era, we’ve noticed the rising demand for complex therapeutics such as oligonucleotides and peptides, particularly in the GLP-1 sector. In response to this demand, we established WuXi TIDES as a separate division in 2024, focusing on oligonucleotide and peptide therapeutics, while WuXi STA concentrates on small molecule drug development.

In 2024, WuXi TIDES has tripled its peptide manufacturing capacity to a total solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) reactor volume of 32,490 L. We also have plans to further increase our SPPS capacity at our 169-acre Taixing site and at our upcoming Singapore site. Currently, we support 48 ongoing preclinical to commercial peptide-based therapies. This strategic focus ensures that we remain well-positioned to meet the evolving demands of the pharmaceutical landscape.