Oral Solid Dosage (OSD) Contract Manufacturing Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2021-2031

The Global Oral Solid dosage (OSD) Contract Manufacturing Market is projected to expand significantly, growing from USD 41.02 Billion in 2025 to USD 60.77 Billion by 2031, representing a CAGR of 6.77%. This sector involves the outsourcing of solid drug formulation production, including tablets and capsules, to specialized third-party vendors. The market is primarily driven by pharmaceutical companies aiming to achieve cost efficiencies and access advanced technologies for complex compounds without incurring heavy capital expenditures. Furthermore, the expiration of patents for major drugs has necessitated increased external capacity to handle high-volume generic production. According to the Association for Accessible Medicines, generic and biosimilar medicines accounted for 90% of all prescriptions filled in the United States in 2024, highlighting the critical volume demand fueling the contract manufacturing sector.

However, the industry faces significant hurdles due to a stringent global regulatory environment. Contract manufacturers are required to maintain compliance with divergent international quality standards, which necessitates substantial and ongoing resource allocation. This regulatory complexity can lead to prolonged approval timelines and vulnerabilities within the supply chain, acting as a potential barrier to the market's sustained expansion.

Market Drivers

A primary engine for market growth is the proliferation of small and mid-sized biopharmaceutical innovators, which is fundamentally transforming the outsourcing landscape. Unlike traditional large pharmaceutical entities, these emerging firms typically possess robust research pipelines but lack the capital-intensive infrastructure necessary for commercial-scale solid dose production. Consequently, they form strategic partnerships with contract manufacturers to navigate development phases without facing high fixed costs.

This reliance is intensified by aggressive investment in early-stage discovery; according to the August 2024 report 'Outsourced Pharma Services: New Data Shows Resurgence Is Underway' by Harris Williams, R&D spending for biotech and small to mid-sized pharmaceutical companies is projected to increase by 9% to 12%, outpacing the growth rate of larger industry players. This capital influx directly translates into higher contract volumes for OSD providers capable of offering flexible, end-to-end development services.

Simultaneously, the expansion of capabilities for High-Potency Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (HPAPIs) and complex formulations is reshaping technical requirements within the sector. As modern drug discovery shifts toward oncology and rare diseases, molecules are becoming increasingly potent and challenging to formulate due to poor bioavailability, compelling manufacturers to invest in specialized containment and advanced solubility enhancement technologies. In its 'Full-Year Report 2024' released in January 2025, Lonza reported that its Small Molecules division achieved sales growth of 9.3% in 2024, a performance driven by the continued portfolio shift toward high-value, complex service offerings. This trend is underpinned by the enduring dominance of traditional chemistries; according to Lonza, in 2025, small molecules continue to comprise 54% of all molecules in the global clinical development pipeline, necessitating sustained specialized manufacturing capacity.

Market Challenges

The expansion of the Global Oral Solid Dosage (OSD) Contract Manufacturing Market faces a formidable obstacle in navigating a stringent global regulatory environment. As contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) operate across multiple jurisdictions, they must align with divergent quality standards and documentation requirements enforced by different national health authorities. This fragmentation necessitates the maintenance of extensive quality assurance teams and often requires duplicative testing protocols, which significantly increases operational costs and erodes profit margins. Consequently, resources that could be invested in capacity expansion or facility upgrades are instead diverted toward maintaining continuous compliance.

The intensifying pressure of this regulatory burden is evident in recent industry data regarding facility oversight. According to the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), in 2024, the frequency of 'for cause' inspections - assessments triggered by specific compliance concerns - doubled compared to the previous year. This sharp increase in regulatory scrutiny creates a volatile operating environment where approval timelines are unpredictable. Such uncertainty hampers the ability of manufacturers to guarantee strict delivery schedules, ultimately constraining the market's ability to scale efficiently in response to rising global demand.

Market Trends

The accelerated adoption of continuous manufacturing technologies is fundamentally changing the production landscape for oral solid dosages by replacing traditional batch processes with fully integrated flow systems. This operational shift allows contract manufacturers to significantly reduce development timelines and footprint requirements while enhancing product quality through real-time monitoring. Such capabilities are increasingly critical for handling the growing volume of precision medicines and facilitating flexible small-volume production. According to Hovione's October 2025 press release, 'Hovione Completes Initial $100M Investment Cycle to Expand U.S. Operations at New Jersey Manufacturing Site,' the company finalized a major facility expansion that explicitly integrates commercial-scale continuous tableting capacity to meet the evolving technical demands of North American pharmaceutical clients.

Additionally, strategic reshoring and nearshoring of manufacturing supply chains have become a primary priority for the industry as companies seek to mitigate geopolitical risks and reduce dependency on fragmented global networks. This trend is driving a substantial migration of oral solid dosage production capacity back to domestic hubs in the United States and Europe to ensure supply security for essential medicines.

Consequently, large pharmaceutical entities are directing massive capital inflows into local infrastructure to establish robust and self-reliant production ecosystems. According to the November 2025 article 'Tracking Pharma's Progress on U.S. Onshoring Efforts to Avoid Tariffs' by Think Global Health, thirteen major pharmaceutical companies have collectively pledged more than $480 billion in investments toward expanding U.S. manufacturing capabilities over the next decade.

Key Players Profiled in the Oral Solid dosage (OSD) Contract Manufacturing Market

• AbbVie Inc.
• Acino International AG
• Aenova Holding GmbH
• Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
• Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH
• Catalent Inc.
• Corden Pharma International GmbH,
• PerkinElmer Inc.
• Pyramid Laboratories Inc.
• Siegfried AG

Report Scope

In this report, the Global Oral Solid dosage (OSD) Contract Manufacturing Market has been segmented into the following categories:

Oral Solid dosage (OSD) Contract Manufacturing Market, by Product:

• Tablets
• Capsules
• Powders
• Granules
• Others

Oral Solid dosage (OSD) Contract Manufacturing Market, by End User:

• Large-size companies
• Small & medium size companies
• Startups
• generic pharmaceutical companies

Oral Solid dosage (OSD) Contract Manufacturing Market, by Region:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia-Pacific
• South America
• Middle East & Africa

Competitive Landscape

Company Profiles: Detailed analysis of the major companies present in the Global Oral Solid dosage (OSD) Contract Manufacturing Market.

Available Customization

The analyst offers customization according to your specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:

• Detailed analysis and profiling of additional market players (up to five).

This product will be delivered within 1-3 business days.