Contract Pharma Conclusion

In September, Todd Bokus and I attended the 2022 Contract Pharma Contracting & Outsourcing Conference, a prominent event in the Pharma Services space. Below are our key takeaways from the event:

Event Attendance

We were pleased to see such a strong turnout for this event by both exhibitors and attendees. A few individuals even mentioned that we seemed to have returned to “pre-COVID levels” in terms of attendance at this conference in particular. Contract Pharma was well-attended not only by industry leaders, but also by Private Equity firms in our close network, exhibiting a sustained strong demand for investment in the space. Leaders and top innovators in the Outsourced Pharma industry were all in attendance as well, including leaders in lab services, research and development, clinical trial services, manufacturing, regulatory consulting, data analytics, commercialization services, and more.

Trends

During our discussions at the conference, we observed several industry trends worth noting.

• Demand for Capacity: there is a sustained strong demand for available capacity, and this demand for capacity continues to outpace availability.
• Continued Supply Chain Issues: slowdowns in the supply chain remain a major issue for companies in the Outsourced Manufacturing space, attributed to both macroeconomic and geopolitical troubles.
• Labor Shortage: a lack of labor has created challenges across the pharma value chain. ?For example, many mid-sized manufacturers are having difficulty competing with larger corporations for production workers, and some CROs and consulting firms continue to struggle to find and retain top R&D talent.
• M&A: there is still a strong appetite for M&A in the industry – valuations remain healthy for sellers and strong industry tailwinds continue to excite buyers. Relative to the broader market, we expect to see sustained levels of M&A activity across the Pharma Services landscape in the near-term.

Conclusion

Contract Pharma held a successful event with fantastic turnout, and we thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to connect with leaders in our network and continue to build valuable relationships with others in the industry.

Upcoming Conferences

Bourne Partners will be attending all major upcoming industry conferences and looks forward to meeting with management teams in attendance to continue the dialogue. See our events page for details and contact information.