Outsourcing gap widens: Europe pulls away from US in new drug manufacturing

In 2025, the dose outsourcing spread betwixt the proportionality of recently approved biosimilar and innovator products outsourced to European and US facilities was the widest yet, with Europe taking a important lead. The archetypal fractional of 2026 is continuing that trend.

Contract manufacturing facilities located successful the US and Europe supply biopharma companies with strategical options to diversify proviso chains, entree specialised technologies, and velocity time-to-market for caller drugs. Outsourced dose manufacturing for innovator drugs and biosimilars approved successful the US and Europe (EU and UK) has traditionally oscillated betwixt the 2 geographies, but determination has been a pronounced displacement toward European facilities implicit the past 2 years.

According to GlobalData's Drug By Manufacturer Database, the astir caller full-year figures amusement a widening of the spread betwixt usage of European and US facilities, with the archetypal fractional of 2026 continuing that trend. In 2025, 50% of caller drugs had dose manufacturing contracts with European-based facilities, astir doubling their stock since 2023. By contrast, that proportionality for US-based facilities has remained a static 18% since 2024, starring to a important widening of the outsourcing spread betwixt the 2 geographies. Despite fluctuations implicit the past decade, including instances of US-based facilities coming adjacent to European outsourcing proportions successful 2018, 2021, and 2023, Europe has continuously held its lead.

National taxation systems are 1 constituent supporting that growth. Irish facilities accounted for 13% of the region's dose manufacturing contracts successful 2025, up from astir 6% successful 2024. Ireland accrued its Research and Development (R&D) Corporation taxation Credit to 35% successful January 2026, gathering connected an earlier summation successful 2024 from 25% to 30%. It is present 1 of the astir competitory rates successful Europe. Germany, which contributed conscionable implicit a 5th of European dose outsourcing for caller drugs successful 2025, besides offers a generous R&D taxation recognition of 25–35%. By contrast, the US offers companies an Alternative Simplified Credit of betwixt 6% and 14% (depending connected increases successful R&A spending).

Policies specified arsenic R&D taxation credits are 1 lever for countries to promote CDMOs to make manufacturing techniques and technologies, and enactment the enlargement of specialised facilities connected European soil. Biosimilars, successful particular, thin to necessitate scalable commercialized manufacturing and specialised accumulation technology. Celltrion Inc., which specializes successful generic and biosimilar cause development, outsourced 9 dose manufacturing contracts to European facilities successful 2025, up from 7 successful 2024, reflecting its reliance connected specialised European manufacturing partners.