CRO/CDMO Industry Landscape 2026: What's Driving Growth in Outsourced Drug Development and Manufacturing
How Will AI and Biologics Growth Impact the CRO/CDMO Industry?
Global biopharma firms are outsourcing more of their clinical trials and drug manufacturing than ever before, and the trend shows no sign of reversing. Contract research and contract development and manufacturing organizations, or CROs/CDMOs, sit at the center of this shift, supporting biopharma companies from preclinical testing through commercial-scale production.
Two forces are reshaping outsourced drug development: artificial intelligence and the rise of complex biologics. Between 2023 and 2025, 75% of AI-enabled emerging biopharma programs advanced from Phase I to Phase II—26% more than non-AI programs. Meanwhile, biologics accounted for 26% of FDA approvals in 2025.
The complexity of these tools demands specialized manufacturing capacity that most biopharma firms can't build in-house. As such, demand for CRO and CDMO services has climbed steadily since 2018. Find out what this means for securities in the sector today.
