The relationship between pharmaceutical companies and their manufacturing partners is changing. At CPHI Frankfurt 2025, industry leaders outlined a new approach to CDMO selection and management during the talk, “CDMOs at a Crossroads: Scaling, Adapting, and Partnering for the Future.” The panel featured Nuria Amador, Head of Europe and North America, Global Partners Markets at Almirall; Gil Roth, President of the Pharma & Biopharma Outsourcing Association; Anil Kane, Global Head of Technical & Scientific Affairs at Thermo Fisher Scientific; and Dania Chehab, Head of EMEA Pharma Services at J.P. Morgan.
1: Tier Your CDMO Relationships by Product Value
A key shift in CDMO relationships centers on the depth of partnerships. Nuria emphasized that pharma companies now tier their CDMO relationships. High-revenue products, drugs serving critical patient needs, and breakthrough therapies receive strategic partnership treatment, while mature or lower-priority products may warrant more transactional arrangements. “For our critical partnerships, a close relationship is a no-brainer: fluent communication, clear governance, and a commitment to being true partners,” she explained. While transactional relationships remain appropriate for certain products, strategic molecules demand integrated collaboration.
Nuria summarized: “CDMOs need to choose between being transactional or being strategic. The ones who understand the pressure of launch, the market access, the regulatory challenges from a commercial perspective are the ones who will be better positioned.”
2: Match CDMO Selection to Molecule Characteristics
Generic capability checklists no longer suffice. Anil emphasized that buyers must now evaluate CDMOs based on specific therapeutic area expertise and expected commercial trajectory.
For breakthrough therapies, orphan drugs, or oncology products, buyers prioritize CDMOs who can accelerate development timelines and navigate regulatory pathways efficiently. “Does the CDMO possess the expertise to accelerate development and, where possible, eliminate the need for pivotal studies?” Anil asked.
Products targeting large patient populations—obesity treatments, diabetes therapies—require different capabilities: infrastructure to scale from large clinical trials to commercial volumes, often reaching hundreds of thousands or millions of units.
This molecule-specific approach also protects sponsors from supply disruption. Companies increasingly avoid switching manufacturing partners during development, making initial CDMO selection critical.
3: Evaluate CDMOs Using Investor Criteria
Dania outlined the key diligence areas that drive CDMO valuations:
- Customer retention: What percentage of top 20 customers from five years ago remain today? High churn signals operational or quality issues.
- Capacity utilization: Well-invested sites operating at optimal capacity indicate financial health and the ability to support customer growth.
- Technology differentiation: Breadth and uniqueness of capabilities versus competition.
- On-time delivery performance: Consistent execution matters as much as technical capability.
“When you look at the top 20 customers five years ago, what does it look like today? Has there been a lot of churn? Are you able to retain your customers throughout the lifecycle of the given drug?” Dania explained.
These metrics matter because they indicate whether a CDMO can grow with your product from Phase I through commercial scale—or whether you’ll face forced tech transfer during critical development stages.
Action: Request customer retention data, capacity utilization rates, and on-time delivery metrics during CDMO due diligence. Prioritize partners demonstrating consistent operational excellence and long-term customer relationships.
4: It’s a Two-Way Street
CDMOs are increasingly evaluating potential partners the same way buyers evaluate their suppliers.
Gil illustrated this with GLP-1 oral products. If ten small companies each approach a CDMO with an oral GLP-1 candidate, the manufacturer must assess which molecules show the most promise. “As a CDMO, you have to risk assess the molecule,” Gil noted.
Anil described emerging models: “We are seeing co-creation and co-investment used as incentives to accelerate manufacturing and reduce costs. Due diligence should be both ways.”
These hybrid arrangements—revenue sharing, co-investment in capacity, performance-based pricing—reflect genuine partnership rather than transactional vendor relationships.
