Biopharma Outsourcing Leveling Out

By Eric Langer, president and managing partner, BioPlan Associates, Inc.

Biopharma companies have become increasingly comfortable outsourcing a variety of their manufacturing service needs over the past five years, but results from our Ninth Annual Report and Survey of Biopharmaceutical Manufacturers indicate that the extent of this outsourcing may be flattening out. This year, we asked 302 biotherapeutic developers their outsourcing strategies for production and found that there appears to be a slight downtick in levels of outsourcing when segregating by production system. This flattening also was indicated in research questions associated with budget trends for outsourcing.