Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, API:Market Insight, CDMO Pricing and Competitor Benchmarking

Over 1,000 cumulative hours of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis have been utilized to craft two editions of Nice Insight’s Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients: Market Analysis, CDMO Pricing and Benchmarking study.

About This Report

• The second edition of Nice Insight’s small molecule API report extends the work that we put into the 2022 edition, including updated market analysis and trending information, new tables and figures, current 2024 pricing benchmarks, and a complete overhaul of our presentation of the competitive landscape.

• A competitive landscape with detailed profiles of leading small molecule API CDMOs to support informed outsourcing decision and industry peer comparison, along with a services summary table to allow direct, easy comparison of key capabilities.

• Current pricing information for individual API manufacturing CDMO services was obtained from primary analysis and interviews with industry experts representing both CDMOs and buyers of CDMO services.

• Projections for ongoing growth of the small molecule API market, including growth rates of different market segments (innovator vs. generic drugs; high-potency APIs, growth drivers, etc.).

• Analysis of R&D pipelines and technological innovations in synthetic chemistry and biocatalytic manufacturing, continuous manufacturing, chiral technologies, digitalization, and more.

• Input from subject matter experts (SMEs) from contract development and manufacturing service providers and buyers of outsourced services.

Study Methodology

• For the second edition of Nice Insight’s small molecule API market report, we have compiled up-to-date primary, proprietary data and a survey of secondary data from the published literature and industry databases to build upon our past work and to provide a fresh vista on the API market and the outsourced development and manufacturing sector. The quantitative research that we performed is supplemented by direct interviews conducted with multiple subject matter experts with diverse roles in the sector to obtain qualitative perspectives on the dynamics of the space.

• The resulting report reflects a mixture of specific data, overall assessments, and subjective insight and interpretation. It is impossible to cover every aspect of the sector, in granular detail in a single report so we focused instead on essential background and on the current dynamics and information most critical for the reader to make smart decisions in the market. Our goal is to support readers who represent an API CDMO, a pharma company that purchases CDMO services, or a private equity or venture capital investor looking to understand the current state of the market. References are provided where specific information is listed. Readers interested in greater detail on any specific subject are directed to pursue those references.

• The content included here reflects in total over 1,000 hours of dedicated research, interviews, analysis, and composition, both to develop the original 2022 edition and to create this updated 2024 report.

• A team comprising six (6) Ph.D.-level experts collaborated with a group of 25+ existing clients representing CDMOs within the API sector to probe and better understand benchmarks, current challenges, and the future of the industry.

• We conducted a comprehensive survey of the key players in the sector to develop informative small molecule API CDMO profiles for comparison.

• An internal consultant with over 25 years of industry experience worked for over six months to advise on big-picture trends shaping the industry and to unify the data into a holistic view.

• Individual interviews were performed with SMEs representing leadership, CMC, manufacturing, and other operations at small molecule CDMOs to discuss pricing for contract development and manufacturing services, focusing on typical line-item deliverables for API programs from RFP pricing sheets.

• During the entire project, we consulted repeatedly with pharmaceutical companies of different size that are buyers of CDMO services for small molecule API programs, to understand the different needs reflected by different business models.

• We interviewed owners of medium-to-large CDMOs to discuss production methods, capacity, investments, and human resource issues, among other topics.