The Indian market is expected to witness the highest growth in the CDMO space, largely due to the low cost of the R&D and Manufacturing side of Pharmaceutical manufacturing.
The global Pharmaceutical CDMO market was valued at 160.12 Billion USD earlier this year and is expected to rise to 236.61 Billion USD by 2026, with the largest investment and revenue coming from the United States – but which other players are emerging?
The Indian market is expected to witness the highest growth in the CDMO space due to the low cost of the R&D and Manufacturing side, not to mention the highly skilled workforce. The biggest advantage in outsourcing to India is the cost benefit compared to the United States and Europe; it is estimated that the cost of outsourcing to India will be 37.5% lower than this competition.
Another major advantage in outsourcing to India is the world class manufacturing facilities available. Usually, CDMO plants include state-of-the-art equipment from the likes of GE Healthcare and Sartorius Stedim Biotech. Sai Life Sciences, for example, has a 100% successful track record in regulatory inspections both from the FDA and PMDA, and work with 7 of the top 10 pharma companies.
Additionally, Indian CDMO’s have an outstanding track record. In the Pharmaceutical industry, India is the largest exporter of OTC’s to the United States with over 40% of the market share, meaning that we will not be missing out on the quality of the drug due to years of experience. There have been many companies that have enjoyed recent success; Biocon, Sai Life Sciences, GVK Bio and Piramal (to name a few) have a fantastic track record in terms of commercial delivery.
Finally, even if you look at profitability, the Indian CDMO’s outperformed their counterparts having far higher EBITDA margins from 25-35% compared to 10-20% margins of their European and US competition. My own personal experience aligns with this – from networking day in day out with executive professionals in the CDMO space, a common theme that arises is the topic of outsourcing manufacturing, particularly to India.