For 2012, contract manufacturers should brace for an increase in requests for bioanalytical testing, consulting, high-potency compound and regulatory support services. But they should be able to handle the load, given expected decreases in custom manufacturing, packaging and formulation services.
That's according to Nice Research, which expects to issue its fourth-quarter CMO tracking report today. The increases and decreases represent a comparison of functions drugmakers say they will outsource in 2012 versus those they actually outsourced in 2011, according to research manager Kate Hammeke, in an email.
The research finds also that demand for fill/finish and pharma analytical testing services will remain steady. Demand for lyophilization and process optimization services are expected to drop, as is demand for assistance with stability, storage and testing.
Nice surveyed more than 2,600 execs and managers at biotech, specialty, Big Pharma and emerging drugmakers.
- here's the Q4 report