87 TWENTYFOURSEVENBIOPHARMA Issue 1 / March 2026 Are customers prioritising cost control over resilience and innovation, or are you seeing a more balanced approach emerge? The calculus has matured. Companies are looking at total cost, not just upfront price. That includes the cost of delays, the cost of process changes, and the cost of misalignment between development and manufacturing capabilities and infrastructure. The companies getting this right are asking: “What does resilience mean at our stage?” For early-phase programs, resilience often means the ability to iterate quickly and maintain process control. For commercial manufacturing, it means something different entirely. We’re seeing a more sophisticated approach. Companies are matching their manufacturing strategy to their development stage rather than applying a one-size-fits-all model. Cost still matters, but it’s balanced against speed, control, and the ability to respond to what they learn in the clinic. Where do you see the most meaningful growth opportunities in the next 12–18 months - geographically or technologically? Geographically, growth is concentrated in U.S. biopharma hubs, particularly Boston and the Research Triangle. Companies want to manufacture where the science is happening and where the talent is. Technologically, the opportunity is in advanced therapies. Cell and gene therapy, personalized medicine, and mRNA platforms require process flexibility and specialized infrastructure. These modalities don’t fit neatly into traditional manufacturing models. At Chrysalis, we’re seeing strong demand from companies working on these next-generation therapies because they need facilities and infrastructure that can adapt to their process, not the other way around. The biggest growth opportunity is at the intersection of these two trends: providing advanced therapy manufacturing infrastructure in established biopharma hubs. Companies need GMP-ready cleanroom space that can accommodate novel processes without requiring massive capital investment or lengthy tech transfer times. What is the biggest misconception pharma companies currently have about the CDMO/API supply environment? The biggest misconception is that there are only two paths: build your own facility or partner with a CDMO. Both are excellent options for the right situation, but they’re not the only options. CDMOs are essential for some therapeutic modalities and for companies that want to focus exclusively on drug development. Building your own facility makes sense when you have the capital, the time, and the long-term pipeline demand to justify it. But for early-stage companies, particularly those working on novel modalities where the process is still evolving, there’s a middle path. Chrysalis provides GMP-compliant infrastructure and GxP services where companies maintain control over their process and operate on their timeline without the capital commitment of building or the technology transfer required by traditional CDMO outsourcing. The market is recognizing that manufacturing strategy should match the development stage. The companies that understand this are moving faster because they’re choosing the right model for where they are, not defaulting to a binary choice. How would you describe the mood of the outsourcing market right now - stabilising, cautious, or entering a new growth cycle? When we look at some of the key indicators, the mood has been cautiously optimistic, in terms of the funding outlook for BioPharma. Certainly, if one looks at the XBI (S&P Biotech) there has been a dramatic change. The XBI has been underperforming against the SPY since January 2022, however, as of October 2025 the XBI returned to overperformance & continues to outstrip the SPY significantly. This doesn’t immediately translate into business growth for CRDMO, as there is a lag between investment & spend, but is an indicator that funding pressure is easing. It is also clear that investment continues to be driven by data which tends to favour assets that have at least advanced into the clinic. Geopolitical events continue to have a destabilising effect on confidence, recent events in the middle east being a good example of how quickly investor confidence can change. To what extent are geopolitical pressures reshaping sourcing decisions, particularly around regionalisation and dual sourcing? DCAT ROUNDTABLE CHRISTIAN DOWDESWELL Managing Director Arcinova, a Quotient Sciences company
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