Piramal builds global drug product, ADC capacity amid supply chain volatility

Indian contract development and manufacturing organization Piramal Pharma Solutions continues to expand its capabilities. Earlier this month, Piramal announced the development, scale-up, and commercialization of a tablet-in-capsule drug delivery system at its drug product facilities in India, an expansion that underscores the company’s broader push to offer flexible manufacturing options as drugmakers reassess global supply chains.

A key differentiator of the platform is the use of individual tablets, or minitablets, within a single capsule, allowing different active ingredients to be formulated separately and combined into one dosage form. The tablets are being developed at Piramal’s Pithampur facility in India, while the company’s Ahmedabad site has also been expanded to support production of the new system.

The addition of this capability reflects Piramal’s intent to broaden its drug product offerings in India, while positioning itself as a partner for manufacturers seeking alternatives to China-based production.

“With any client who wants to de-risk from or add an additional supply chain option to China we have value options in India that are very effective,” says Peter DeYoung, CEO of Piramal Global Pharma. “We also have proximity options in North America and in the UK should they want these onshoring accommodations.”

DeYoung has observed growing interest from companies exploring India-based CDMOs following Congress’ passage of the BIOSECURE Act, as part of the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law in December 2025.

US manufacturing expansion, India growth

Piramal’s expansion of its Indian drug product facilities comes as the company invested in manufacturing capacity in the U.S. through 2025, supporting its broader goal of increasing global production flexibility.

Among the most notable investments are the expansion of Piramal’s Lexington, Kentucky fill-finish site for high-potent sterile injectables and the completion of a linker payload expansion at the company’s Riverview, Michigan facility, which also serves as a high-potency API site.

“With these two expansions, we now have significant onshore capacity available immediately, should any clients want to proceed with any onshoring intentions across our sterile filter site in Kentucky, our high-potent API site in Michigan, and our solid oral dose and liquids, creams and ointments site in Pennsylvania,” says DeYoung.

Together, these investments reflect Piramal’s strategy to support both offshore and onshore manufacturing needs, while strengthening its integrated capabilities for complex modalities.

Building an end-to-end ADC offering

DeYoung said the U.S. expansion — particularly in fill-finish and payload-linker manufacturing — has significantly enhanced Piramal’s antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) capabilities. With this, the company offers support across the ADC value chain from monoclonal antibody (mAb) production through bioconjugation, linker payload manufacturing, and final fill-finish.

That timing for Piramal aligns with broader industry trends, according to an August 2025 Jefferies report on Indian CRDMOs. “Our industry channel checks suggest demand for ADC services is rising and customers of Indian CRDMO are increasingly inquiring about ADC capability, indicating that pipeline molecules will be increasingly from the ADC segment,” the report finds.

The Jefferies report also highlights Piramal’s differentiated capabilities across integrated ADC development and manufacturing, high-potency APIs, hormonals, sterile injectables, and low-cost small molecule manufacturing in India.

The report describes Piramal as “one of the best-positioned players” among Indian CRDMOs. “as it can provide fully integrated offering including mAb manufacturing,” Jefferies analysts wrote. “We believe ADCs also contribute 12-15% of Piramal’s CDMO division and in our view is the fastest growing segment for the company.”

Global footprint supports onshoring

Beyond India and the U.S., Piramal maintains two manufacturing sites in the UK: a fully integrated drug product facility in Morpeth, Northumberland, and a bioconjugation site for ADCs in Grangemouth, Scotland. The Grangemouth site was recently expanded to add additional commercial suites.

According to Jefferies, this kind of footprint enables Piramal to offer one of the broadest geographic manufacturing networks among Indian CDMOs, noting that the company has the “widest offering by any Indian CRDMO and has highest overseas presence with seven overseas facilities of which six are utilized for CRDMO.”

The analysts contend that Piramal is “well-placed to play the onshoring theme being pursued by some of the innovators as well as China +1.”

Integrated manufacturing across regions

DeYoung emphasized that Piramal’s value lies not just in geographic reach, but in the company’s ability to integrate activities across sites.

“Across those three sites, and with these expansions, we have significant capacity available,” he says.

He added that Piramal can flex manufacturing across regions depending on customer needs.

“We can do the mAb, we can do the bioconjugation in the U.K., and then we can do the linker payload in Michigan and the fill-finish Kentucky. And we think it's particularly notable that we can finish the fill-finish in the U.S.,” he says, pointing to the importance of domestic manufacturing for some clients.

Near-term, longer-term prospects

While Piramal’s investments position the company for growth, Jefferies does not expect the full impact to materialize immediately. The firm projects strong growth for Piramal’s CDMO business beginning in fiscal year 2027.

For 2026, Jefferies expects “flattish growth” in the CDMO division due to “destocking of its largest product (a Big Pharma product).” Still, the firm anticipates Piramal will secure multiple new projects from large pharmaceutical companies in relatively quick succession.

As pipelines continue to shift toward more complex modalities such as ADCs, and as sponsors weigh cost, risk, and geography, Piramal’s expanding manufacturing footprint and integrated capabilities could prove increasingly attractive to drugmakers looking for flexibility without sacrificing scale or technical depth.