7.1.1 The pricing study provides specific figures for set services and processes that are typical in mammalian cell–based development, GMP production, and storage services from current, established outsourcing providers. This year we continued to gather enough relevant data points to report the difference in pricing among different regions of the world, and have added more granularity for Eastern Europe and South America.
North America, as before, includes U.S. and Canadian firms
Europe includes quotes from Western European countries. Eastern European firms can carry as much as 40% less overhead, and generally pay 60% less for labor. The reader can therefore predict the corresponding discount one might find from a CDMO in Eastern Europe compared to one in Western Europe.
Korean pricing, as before, aligns with Western Europe.
China remains the most cost-effective region for biologics pricing, but South America, particularly Argentina, is a growing niche.
In Table 24 through Table 31 we provide pricing we have previously reported for 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024, and now 2025. As with our 2024 data, we report global average pricing and breakdown the pricing for the three regions: North America, China + South America, and Europe + Korea. Table 32 through Table 39 provide the same activities and detail of the global regions.
Nice Insight provides customers with the latest trends in the market, hard-to-find pricing, and analysis of important scientific innovation and challenges. Our research reports help innovators understand the price they'll pay for a contractor and what challenges they should anticipate, and allow CDMOs to evaluate their position in the market.Nice Insight provides customers with the latest trends in the market, hard-to-find pricing, and analysis of important scientific innovation and challenges. Our research reports help innovators understand the price they'll pay for a contractor and what challenges they should anticipate, and allow CDMOs to evaluate their position in the market.
7.2.1 To gain a comprehensive understanding of industry pricing for all major line items in monoclonal antibody and other recombinant protein manufacture, Nice Insight convened a panel comprising key opinion leaders (KOLs) representing several CDMOs working in the space as well as sponsor companies that are buyers of outsourced biologics manufacturing services. Working together, the panel established consensus, representative price points for the relevant CDMO services, which include both representative pricing reflecting typical prices in the industry before the COVID-19 pandemic and current pricing that reflects the profound impact that the pandemic has had on demand and consequent limited capacity, and thus pricing. All prices listed are in U.S. dollars. Raw materials and consumables are not included in pricing.
Nice Insight provides customers with the latest trends in the market, hard-to-find pricing, and analysis of important scientific innovation and challenges. Our research reports help innovators understand the price they'll pay for a contractor and what challenges they should anticipate, and allow CDMOs to evaluate their position in the market.Nice Insight provides customers with the latest trends in the market, hard-to-find pricing, and analysis of important scientific innovation and challenges. Our research reports help innovators understand the price they'll pay for a contractor and what challenges they should anticipate, and allow CDMOs to evaluate their position in the market.
7.3.1 China: Chinese prices were roughly half of what we observed in the U.S., Europe, and South Korea. The low Chinese prices are likely a result of the massive subsidies provided by the Chinese government. If China follows the pattern of industrial development we observed over the past two decades in South Korea, we would expect the prices to remain low while the industry develops, and then to eventually match pricing of the rest of the world as the subsidies subside. For now, a customer who is strictly focused on price can find good value and high-quality technical work in China, especially for relatively standard protein biologics projects. Intellectual property concerns and recent geopolitical developments ensure price, of course, isn’t the only consideration for American customers or European clients.
Nice Insight provides customers with the latest trends in the market, hard-to-find pricing, and analysis of important scientific innovation and challenges. Our research reports help innovators understand the price they'll pay for a contractor and what challenges they should anticipate, and allow CDMOs to evaluate their position in the market.Nice Insight provides customers with the latest trends in the market, hard-to-find pricing, and analysis of important scientific innovation and challenges. Our research reports help innovators understand the price they'll pay for a contractor and what challenges they should anticipate, and allow CDMOs to evaluate their position in the market.
7.4.1 Market Bifurcation. As with 2024, we are seeing a continued bifurcation in the market with respect to scale. We reported last year that small clinical biotechs who don’t require anything more than a 2,000-L mammalian SUB or a 1,000-L microbial SUF are in a buyer’s market. With so few clients, CDMOs are facing increased pressure to lower prices at 2,000 L (mammalian SUB) or 1,000 L (microbial SUF) and smaller. We have seen a continued decrease in pricing for clinical batches, up through Phase II and especially below 1,000 L. Commercial projects, however, are typically performed at larger scale. Commercial demand hasn’t receded, and these contracts are often for tens of batches per year over multiple years, so prices haven’t moved nearly as much. As we predicted last year, commercial pricing for batches over 5,000 L have increased 10% - 20% from last year. This is driven by market demand but also contract length; commercial contracts are typically much longer than clinical contracts, and most of the pre-COVID pricing contracts (at presumably lower rates) have now been renegotiated and/or renewed.
7.4.2. Testing Services. Readers of our Sterile Fill Finish: Market Insight, CDMO Pricing and Competitor Benchmarking Report will be acutely aware of the dramatic increase in testing services. In March 2024, the FDA tightened the guidelines on analytical validation for drug products [184] and in June of that year, the European Medicines Agency followed suit[185]. The direct result was an increase in analytical testing costs for drug product, but we have observed an increase for drug substance, for reasons we don’t yet fully understand. The increase for drug substance testing has not been as dramatic, but we will continue to monitor this volatile subsector in the market.
7.4.3 Commercial pricing. Commercial pricing is mostly driven by repeat batches. Our sources told us to estimate about a 5% discount for up to 5 commercial batches compared to the clinical pricing, and up to 20% discount for 40+ batches. Keep in mind that commercial runs of 40 or more batches will only be relevant for the largest scale available and would be executed on a long-term contract, so it may be difficult to compare a very large clinical batch price directly to a commercial batch. Products that require such scale are multi-indication and probably blockbusters, so the discounts are probably dependent on numerous other factors that impact the manufacturer-client relationship.
Nice Insight provides customers with the latest trends in the market, hard-to-find pricing, and analysis of important scientific innovation and challenges. Our research reports help innovators understand the price they'll pay for a contractor and what challenges they should anticipate, and allow CDMOs to evaluate their position in the market.Nice Insight provides customers with the latest trends in the market, hard-to-find pricing, and analysis of important scientific innovation and challenges. Our research reports help innovators understand the price they'll pay for a contractor and what challenges they should anticipate, and allow CDMOs to evaluate their position in the market.
7.5.1 Winners in 2025. Samsung Biologics, Fuji Biotechnologies, Lonza, WuXi, and Thermo Fisher all reported record sales and new business won for commercial manufacturing of biologics, both in mammalian and microbial systems. Antibody production for antibody-drug conjugates continues to be very strong, even among the small biotech business. By our own count, nearly 100 CDMOs now offer a conjugation service to meet this demand. With the expanding supply, however, customers can demand more optionality and are increasingly requesting drug substance and drug product manufacturing to be not only within the same firm, but within the same geolocation. The ideal supplier would provide the entire value chain within the same city or campus. The last shipment of fully conjugated bulk drug substance to the drug product manufacturer is an especially critical step that no CDMO can currently reduce to within 10 miles.
7.5.2 Challenges in 2025. While Chinese companies continue to achieve reduced production costs as they become more efficient, environmental health and safety (EHS) is becoming more of a priority for the Chinese government. Although mandates were first introduced in 2020, they have truly been implemented in 2022 – 2025. These costs may impact Chinese margins, but to what extent they will drive an increase in price isn’t yet clear. As one would expect from the drop in clinical demand for biologics, CDMOs, especially those in North America and Europe struggled with profitability. Not only has this reduced prices, but has reduced differences in clinical pricing between the two regions. CDMOs without established commercial contracts are especially vulnerable, and we expect this trend to continue through 2026. The drop in clinical demand has also led to a drop in orders for the new single-use bioreactor and single-use fermenter installations. Large-scale installation announcements, however, are proceeding. Recall the very large-scale reactors are typically stainless steel.
7.5.3 Looking ahead to 2026. Indian CDMOs have already established a strong presence in small molecule generics manufacturing, and their expertise is starting to bleed into the biologics manufacturing space. Although Indian biologics firms are not yet prominent in the market, they are continuing to grow. We predict the low cost-base will become more prominent in 2026 as customers who hesitate to use a Chinese firm may seek similar pricing in India, without the same geopolitical constraints.
Nice Insight provides customers with the latest trends in the market, hard-to-find pricing, and analysis of important scientific innovation and challenges. Our research reports help innovators understand the price they'll pay for a contractor and what challenges they should anticipate, and allow CDMOs to evaluate their position in the market.Nice Insight provides customers with the latest trends in the market, hard-to-find pricing, and analysis of important scientific innovation and challenges. Our research reports help innovators understand the price they'll pay for a contractor and what challenges they should anticipate, and allow CDMOs to evaluate their position in the market.
Nice Insight provides customers with the latest trends in the market, hard-to-find pricing, and analysis of important scientific innovation and challenges. Our research reports help innovators understand the price they'll pay for a contractor and what challenges they should anticipate, and allow CDMOs to evaluate their position in the market.Nice Insight provides customers with the latest trends in the market, hard-to-find pricing, and analysis of important scientific innovation and challenges. Our research reports help innovators understand the price they'll pay for a contractor and what challenges they should anticipate, and allow CDMOs to evaluate their position in the market.
Nice Insight provides customers with the latest trends in the market, hard-to-find pricing, and analysis of important scientific innovation and challenges. Our research reports help innovators understand the price they'll pay for a contractor and what challenges they should anticipate, and allow CDMOs to evaluate their position in the market.Nice Insight provides customers with the latest trends in the market, hard-to-find pricing, and analysis of important scientific innovation and challenges. Our research reports help innovators understand the price they'll pay for a contractor and what challenges they should anticipate, and allow CDMOs to evaluate their position in the market.