In this two-part series of the Off Script podcast, we spoke with Brian Scanlan from Edgewater Capital Partners to examine market and investment trends for 2025.
As we near the end of 2025, the CDMO industry finds itself at a pivotal financial and strategic juncture — shaped by constrained funding, shifting demand, and renewed investor scrutiny.
In this two-part series of Off Script: A Pharma Manufacturing Podcast, we spoke with Brian Scanlan, Advisor of Life Sciences at Edgewater Capital Partners, to examine how the year’s market and investment trends align with his predictions from an earlier CPHI Annual Report.
In Part I, Scanlan shares his perspectives on how accurately his forecast of stability and growth for clinical CROs and CDMOs has held up amid tighter capital markets; the ongoing softness among early-stage pharma service providers and what it reveals about funding flows across the sector; and where investor interest is gravitating — from ADCs and small molecules to biologics — and what this signals for the next phase of CDMO evolution.
In Part II of our conversation, Scanlan shares his perspective on the outlook for cell and gene therapies, where clinical setbacks, overcapacity, and high costs are balanced by steady innovation and cautious optimism; why “specialization over scale” is defining the next wave of CDMO success, as niche providers in radiopharma, peptides, and other complex modalities gain traction; and how the evolving Biosecure Act and U.S. reshoring efforts are reshaping global supply chains and creating new opportunities for domestic manufacturing.
Andy Lundin has more than 10 years of experience in business-to-business publishing producing digital content for audiences in the medical and automotive industries, among others. He currently works as Senior Editor for Pharma Manufacturing and is responsible for feature writing and production of the podcast.
His prior publications include MEDQOR, a real-time healthcare business intelligence platform, and Bobit Business Media. Andy graduated from California State University-Fullerton in 2014 with a B.A. in journalism. He lives in Long Beach, California.
