Drugmakers and CDMOs seize GLP-1 opportunity, invest in manufacturing facilities

Demand continues to grow for glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists and large pharmaceutical companies, as well as contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs), are looking to cash in on the weight loss drug bonanza.

This week, Italian CDMO Stevanato Group announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2025, with GLP-1 revenue last year growing more than 50% compared with 2024. CEO Franco Stevanato told analysts that over the next decade GLP-1s will remain a “powerful tailwind” thanks to a “massive preparation of the supply chain.”

Stevanato continues to make investments in its Fishers, Indiana and Latina, Italy manufacturing sites. In 2025, Latina was focused on the installation and production of syringe capacity and customer validations, which will continue in 2026. When it comes to the split between injectables and orals for GLP-1s, Stevanato said that injectables will remain the majority at approximately 70% while orals will be in the range of about 30%.

“With the launch of the Wegovy pill, patients now have more options for GLP treatments,” Stevanato’s CEO told analysts. “The general consensus among industry experts and our customers is that injectables are expected to be the preferred format for treatment.”

Analysts’ forecasts call for the obesity drug market to reach nearly $100 billion by the end of the decade. Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are ramping up their manufacturing infrastructure to meet demand. Both companies are betting on strong interest in weight loss pills.

With the launch of the Wegovy pill in the U.S., Novo Nordisk announced this week that it is adding manufacturing capacity to its Athlone, Ireland site to support current and future GLP-1 treatments. The Danish drugmaker is investing more than $500 million in the Irish facility which it said will serve as a “critical hub” for markets outside the U.S.   

In the U.S., no pharma company is spending more on its GLP-1 manufacturing infrastructure than Eli Lilly. In 2025, the drugmaker pledged $27 billion to build four new domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing sites — three for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and one to manufacture parenteral (injectable) products and devices.  

At the same time, Lilly has boosted its pre-launch inventory for an experimental weight loss pill, orforglipron, which awaits potential FDA approval of the oral GLP-1 drug. So far, the company has stockpiled approximately $1.5 billion worth of the pills.

While Lilly is making major investments to bolster its manufacturing infrastructure, the pharma giant is struggling to find the talent required for these capital expenditure projects, according to Steve Marr, head of the drugmaker’s global facilities delivery parenteral.

Speaking this week at the Advancing Life Science Construction conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, Marr called Lilly’s building boom to support GLP-1s “unprecedented” and “transformational” but said the company hasn’t yet figured out how to manage these mega-projects.

“I need six top project directors — how many people out there know six project directors that have delivered on $2 billion projects?” Marr asked the audience. “We can’t build our facilities fast enough,” he added.