Biologics CDMO Secondary Packaging Market Size & Share Analysis - Trends, Drivers, Competitive Landscape, and Forecasts (2025 - 2032)

Biologics CDMO Secondary Packaging Market Dynamics

Increasing Number of Mergers & Acquisitions and Partnerships Is Key Market Trend

• The increasing number of mergers & acquisitions and partnerships is one of the major trends observed in the global biologics CDMO secondary packaging market. For instance, In September 2023, Chime biologics collaborated with Kings Pharm to accelerate the biosimilar launch. In November 2024, GHO Capital Partners and Ampersand Capital Partners acquired Avid Bioservices through the funds of GHO and Ampersand, valued at approx. $1.1 billion in an all-cash transaction.
• In August 2022, Catalent Inc. acquired Metrics Contract Services, which has a facility in Greenville, North Carolina, for $475 million, from Mayne Pharma Group Limited. The acquisition will strengthen Catalent’s capabilities in integrated oral solid formulation development, manufacturing, and packaging.
• Further, In February 2022, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. announced a collaboration with Moderna to leverage dedicated commercial fill/finish manufacturing capacity in the U.S. for messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines and therapies. The partnership is for the quick scaleup of aseptic fill/finish services and packaging of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
• Moreover, WuXi Biologics and BravoBio Co. Ltd. announced their collaboration for accelerating the development and commercial manufacturing of BravoBio’s vaccines for the treatment of infectious diseases, in January 2022. Through this, BravoBio would use WuXi Vaccines’ integrated platforms for GMP manufacturing of clinical supplies, conducting preclinical research, and global commercial supply of multiple innovative vaccine candidates of BravoBio.

Shift in Preference toward CDMOs Fuels Market Growth

• Big biopharmaceutical companies are striving to de-risk R&D efforts and increase the speed to market their critical drugs, while simultaneously reducing their development and manufacturing costs.
• A rising number of specialty and biotech firms are turning to drug development and manufacturing service providers to avoid the high fixed costs of in-house development, production, and the expertise required to get their molecules through clinical development.
• Additionally, the high fixed costs associated with developing internal competencies limit the ability to scale up and down of companies, based on the nature and size of their pipeline and ever-changing requirements.
• CDMOs provide this agility and flexibility to biopharmaceutical companies to allow them to spend a large portion of their capital and profits on R&D, to create better drugs at lower costs. This way, the strategic usage of external CDMO partners grants companies a significant competitive advantage.
• Moreover, biopharmaceutical players are consolidating their supplier base and preferring to work with CDMOs that provide services like drug substance and drug product development, as well as manufacturing.
• To meet the market demand, CDMOs are expanding their capabilities across all stages of development and commercialization, in order to eliminate the need for technology transfer and serve customers end to end. Therefore, this fortifies the demand for secondary packaging solutions across the globe.

Increasing cost of Packaging Hampers Market Growth

• Price rises for packaging have become the norm in the past few months. Most packaging costs have increased, due to the increased demand for boxes brought on by the rise in delivery of e-commerce products, surge in energy costs, and shortages of raw materials.
• Due to the plastic packaging tax, package expenses are also increasing. In April 2022, the Plastics Packaging Tax, which is imposed on plastic packaging containing less than 30% recycled material, went into effect. For each ton of plastic packaging that does not contain the required amount of recycled material, businesses must pay $201.35. An estimated 20,000 importers and makers of plastic packaging products are impacted by the tariff.
• Further, the industry that accounts for more than 70% of import dependency has witnessed around 140–150% rise in prices of raw materials viz. active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) since the pandemic started. In addition, API prices of certain basic fever and pain relief drugs doubled as high as 130% and major life-saving drugs have seemed to rise by 120% recently, which, in turn, increased the packaging price.
• Moreover, businesses are screening suppliers to make sure they have no financial ties to Russia or Belarus and are looking to source items from other parts of the world, because of the shockwave of events in Ukraine. Also, there is a lack of goods that were formerly imported from Ukraine.

Biologics CDMO Secondary Packaging Market Segmentation Analysis

Type Insights

• Boxes are the largest category of the segment in the market with a market share of 65% in 2024, and this category is also rapidly growing during the forecast period. Boxes are engineered and designed explicitly for the transportation of biological products, including frozen and controlled ambient biologics. They also offer the perfect balance between payload and temperature control.
• Furthermore, these are designed to meet the highest standards of biological drugs’ packing, and the exclusive custom-engineered solution accomplishes a high level of quality, while being sensitive to global environmental issues.

This segment contains three categories:

• Boxes (Largest and Fastest-Growing Category)
• Cartons
• Others

Primary Package Type Insights

• Blister packs dominate the market with a market share of 20% in 2024 and it is the fastest-growing category too during the forecast period. This is because they are the most significant type of packing containers for which the major proportion of the CDMOs provide secondary packaging services.
• Blister packaging is a viable solution for the sensitive nature of biologics, due to its versatility and transparency. Further, several manufacturers are gradually shifting toward monodose packing solutions; therefore, the sales of these packs are increasing at the highest pace.

Further, these primary package types are included in the report:

• Ampoules
• Blister Packs (Largest and Fastest-Growing Category)
• Bottles
• Cartridges
• Syringes and Vials
• Prefilled Syringes
• Others

Biologics CDMO Secondary Packaging Market Regional Outlook

North America is the largest region and has a market share of 40% in 2024. This is due to the rising outsourcing of drug R&D and production activities by biopharma players. Numerous companies desire to team up with qualified packing providers that provide non-traditional packing solutions and have the essential abilities to make unique packing designs in a cost- and time-effective manner.

As per a survey, specifically for clinical and commercial-scale operations, more than half of the CDMOs currently have in-house secondary packing facilities, while the rest outsource these activities. Further, numerous recent developments in technologies, packaging designs, and materials have empowered service providers to provide several user-friendly pharmaceutical secondary packing solutions.

On the other hand, the APAC market is the fastest-growing region, will exhibit highest CAGR during the forecast period. This growth can be majorly attributed to the surging prevalence of chronic diseases, the rising focus of companies on contract manufacturing, and key players are showing a strong interest in facility expansions in the region.

Moreover, the region has witnessed extensive pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing over the past several years. In recent times, the industry has experienced a distinct shift both in the nature and manner of contract manufacturing and how drug products are distributed. Traditionally, medicines that were manufactured in the region were also primarily intended for use in APAC countries. Therefore, due to the increasing demand for biologic CDMO services, the revenue generated through CDMO secondary packaging is rising.

Additionally, the European market is projected to register moderate growth over the forecast period. This can be primarily due to the rising demand for biologic products, like vaccines, which is driving the R&D expenditure of pharma companies.

Furthermore, the increasing demand for CDMO services for large-scale biologics production has propelled the demand for packaging products for vaccines, cell therapies, and other sensitive biological products. The packages are designed to withstand cryogenic temperatures, without hindering the quality of biological materials or their durability. Also, the percentage of biological drugs in the pharmaceutical pipeline continues to increase in the region.

The regions and countries analyzed for this report include:

• North America (Largest Regional Market)
  • U.S. (Larger and Faster-Growing Country Market)
  • Canada
• Europe
  • Germany (Largest Country Market)
  • U.K. (Fastest-Growing Country Market)
  • France
  • Italy
  • Spain
  • Rest of Europe
• Asia-Pacific (APAC) (Fastest-Growing Regional Market)
  • China (Largest Country Market)
  • Japan
  • India (Fastest-Growing Country Market)
  • South Korea
  • Australia
  • Rest of APAC
• Latin America (LATAM)
  • Brazil (Largest Country Market)
  • Mexico (Fastest-Growing Country Market)
  • Rest of LATAM
• Middle East and Africa (MEA)
  • Saudi Arabia (Largest Country Market)
  • South Africa
  • U.A.E. (Fastest-Growing Country Market)
  • Rest of MEA

Biologics CDMO Secondary Packaging Market Share

The market is fragmented in nature because of presence of many key players, serving the different and specialized needs of the biologics manufacturers. Various strategies such as mergers and acquisitions, innovative services launch, partnerships, collaborations, and others are being used by the major leaders to expand their capabilities and geographical presence.

Biologics CDMO Secondary Packaging Market News

• In January 2025, Samsung Biologics collaborated with LigaChem Biosciences to provide antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) services.
• In December 2024, Lonza decided to focus only on the CDMO business and exit its capsules and health ingredients (CHI) business. The CDMO business will have new three platforms, such as integrated biologics, advanced synthesis, and specialized modalities.
• In November 2024, Novo Holdings completed the acquisition of the Catalent Inc. in an all-cash transaction, valued at approximately $16.5 billion.
• In November 2024, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies launched the first phase of global CDMO ecosystem expansion.