AlixPartners at the BIO International Convention 2025

Vital Signs: Disruptive Challenges Facing CDMOs and Strategies to Overcome Them

CDMOs play a pivotal role in the rapidly evolving landscape of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, helping them bring innovative therapies and life-saving products to market. Over the next several years, CDMOs will face several challenges that will impact their strategy, operations, and the types of partnerships they will need to cultivate to succeed in a challenging and competitive market space. The 2025 AlixPartners Disruption Index (our annual survey of 3,200 global executives) showed that many top Life Sciences executives expect disruption to be a key driver in their industry. While this years’ disruption sentiments for Life Sciences were slightly lower than in the first few post-COVID years, they are still high and indicate the critical need for companies in this space to be adaptable to disruptive forces. With the rising number of therapies involving personalized medicines, the growth of biologics and biosimilars, the massive explosion in demand for GLP-1s and GIP medications, and the need for agile and scalable manufacturing solutions, CDMOs must adapt to stay competitive. This panel will explore the strategic, operational, and technological hurdles that CDMOs must overcome to succeed in this dynamic environment.