4 CDMOs to consider when outsourcing manufacturing

News Business 4 CDMOs to consider when outsourcing manufacturing September 8, 2026 | 5 min read | Angela Gabriel Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Email Print Contract development and manufacturing organizations looking to do business with biopharmas include Lonza, which has more than 30 sites, and Samsung Biologics, which recently announced a planned acquisition of another CDMO. With the demand for outside help with development and manufacturing expected to rise soon, biopharmas may be thinking about potential partners for bringing their drugs to market. Below is a look at four contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) that offer a range of services through facilities located around the world.

Lonza Based in Basel, Switzerland, Lonza is one of the world’s largest CDMOs. Its network employs about 20,000 people across more than 30 sites on five continents. Lonza has 11 U.S.

locations, including Cambridge, Massachusetts; Durham, North Carolina; Morristown, New Jersey; and Vacaville, California.The CDMO’s biopharma customers range from emerging biotechs to global pharmaceutical companies. Lonza offers them three business platforms: integrated biologics, advanced synthesis and specialized modalities. Services range from early development to drug substance and drug product manufacturing.

Lonza’s technologies include mammalian biologics, small molecules, highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), bioconjugates, mRNA, microbial products, and cell and gene therapies. Lonza has sealed multiple deals with biopharmas this summer. For example, in early July, the CDMO announced it had expanded a strategic collaboration with an unnamed “leading US-based biopharmaceutical company.” According to Lonza, the expansion adds two biologics programs to be produced commercially, with the option for two more.

Later that month, Lonza and Engitix announced a licensing agreement to advance the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and deliver therapies to patients with chronic diseases.In other recent news, the CDMO last week announced Samanta Cimitan as its chief commercial officer, senior vice president and member of the extended executive committee. The newly created role is meant to make it easy for customers to engage with, access and navigate Lonza’s full end-to-end offering globally and across its business platforms, according to the announcement. Samsung Biologics Samsung Biologics has a biomanufacturing capacity of 845,000 liters, more than 5,800 employees and over 145 global clients.

The Incheon, South Korea–based CDMO’s network includes four manufacturing campuses: two biomanufacturing campuses in Incheon, a dedicated ADC facility in Incheon and a biologics manufacturing site in Rockville, Maryland. Samsung also has global offices in Amsterdam, Boston, Tokyo and Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.The company provides end-to-end development services from drug discovery and lead optimization to investigational new drug filing, covering cell line, bioprocess and analytical development, as well as drug formulation. Samsung also provides cGMP biologics manufacturing services from clinical to commercial scale, including drug substance manufacturing, drug product and aseptic fill-finish and comprehensive laboratory testing services.In recent news, Samsung announced in mid-July that it had offered to buy PolyPeptide, a Switzerland-based CDMO, for CHF 1.46 billion ($1.8 billion), allowing it to move into peptide manufacturing.

PolyPeptide’s projects include GLP-1s, orals, multiple agonists and combination therapies.Last week, Samsung announced a rights offering expected to raise KRW 3 trillion ($2.2 billion). The CDMO plans to use most of the funds toward its acquisition of PolyPeptide, with the remainder (KRW 290 billion, or $210 million) designated for expanding its Bio Campus II in Incheon. While one manufacturing plant at that location is operational, the overall campus, which will have a total capacity of 720,000 liters, won’t be completed until 2032.

Recipharm Stockholm, Sweden–based Recipharm has 16 facilities in eight countries: France, Germany, India, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. The global CDMO’s U.S. location is in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Recipharm has over 4,000 employees worldwide, with customers ranging from Big Pharma to smaller research and development companies.The CDMO provides manufacturing services for solid, semisolid and liquid dosage forms, including sterile fill and finish; clinical trial material development and manufacturing services; and pharmaceutical product development. Its Recipharm Advanced Bio segment works with customers to develop and commercialize advanced therapeutics using technologies based on live viruses and viral vectors, live-microbial biopharmaceutical products, nucleic acid–based mRNA and plasmid DNA production.In mid-June, the company announced a multimillion-dollar investment in its U.S. operations.

The move is aimed at strengthening its ability to support pharmaceutical and biotech businesses with advanced sterile fill and finish services for biologics and advanced therapies. Recipharm did not specify the exact amount of its investment. It noted that the announcement follows the signing of a clinical biologics fill and finish agreement with a major global pharmaceutical company, which it did not name.In late May, Recipharm announced a multimillion-dollar investment in a new blow-fill-seal manufacturing line to expand its capacity to support ophthalmic product programs from development through commercial supply.

It did not specify the exact amount of that investment. Piramal Pharma Solutions Piramal Pharma Solutions has a network of 15 facilities across North America, Europe and Asia. Nine of those sites are in India, and three are in the U.S., located in Riverview, Michigan; Sellersville, Pennsylvania; and Lexington, Kentucky.

The Mumbia, India–based global CDMO has between 1,000 and 5,000 employees, according to its LinkedIn profile, while parent company Piramal Pharma has a workforce of over 7,000.Piramal offers a range of services including drug discovery solutions, process and pharmaceutical development services, clinical trial supplies, commercial supply of APIs and finished dosage forms. It also provides specialized services such as the development and manufacture of highly potent APIs and sterile fill/finish. In addition, Piramal offers development and manufacturing services for biologics including vaccines and gene therapies through Yapan Bio Private.In mid-May, Piramal Pharma Solutions announced it had entered a manufacturing and supply arrangement with Botanix SB, a subsidiary of Botanix Pharmaceuticals.

Piramal will handle development and validation services for sofpironium bromide, the API in Sofdra, at its Michigan facility. Around the same time, the company debuted its new state-of-the-art payload-linker development and manufacturing suite at its Riverview drug substance facility. The company considers the launch a key element of its $90 million investment plan to extend U.S.-based manufacturing capabilities, announced last year.

Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Email Print Manufacturing CDMO Europe Asia Massachusetts North Carolina California New Jersey Michigan Pennsylvania Kentucky Lonza Angela Gabriel Angela Gabriel is content manager, life sciences careers, at BioSpace. She covers the biopharma job market, job trends and career advice, and produces client content. You can reach her at angela.gabriel@biospace.com and follow her on LinkedIn.