Escalating US tariff and pricing reforms are pushing pharmaceutical companies to localize manufacturing and rethink their investment priorities, fueling a surge in outsourcing-led strategies and targeted acquisitions. The recent deals in obesity and liver disease, Pfizer’s purchase of Metsera and Roche’s acquisition of 89bio, underscore how dealmaking is increasingly shaped by policy incentives, tariff exposure, and the need for resilient, domestically anchored supply chains, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
The deals come amid the Donald Trump administration’s push to localize pharmaceutical manufacturing and enforce Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) pricing. The new tariff policy, effective from 1 October 2025, will impose 100% tariffs on patented drug imports unless companies expand US production. Pfizer secured a three-year exemption by pledging lower prices and more domestic manufacturing, while Roche’s move aligns with its $50 billion US investment via Genentech.
Edita Hamzic, Healthcare Analyst at GlobalData, notes: “These deals mark a turning point where pharma growth is driven not only by science but also by geography and policy.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration recently announced a third MFN agreement, this time with EMD Serono, covering discounted fertility drugs, lower prices for GLP-1 obesity therapies, and the rollout of a new FDA National Priority Voucher program designed to accelerate drug approvals tied to affordability and domestic production.
Cyrus Fan, Research Analyst at GlobalData, says: “The administration’s mix of incentives and tariffs is reshaping how pharma companies’ price, manufacture, and distribute medicines in the US.”
GlobalData’s Bio/Pharmaceutical Outsourcing Report reveals that these developments signal a new era where innovation, affordability, and supply chain resilience are equally vital for pharma growth.
Against this backdrop of rising policy-driven pressures, activity across the CDMO sector is also accelerating as manufacturers reposition to meet new expectations for domestic capability and cost-efficient production. Axplora Group’s planned $108 million investment to expand API, antibody-drug conjugate, and GLP-1 peptide manufacturing under FDA and EMA oversight, alongside the launch of Codis as a specialized CDMO in advanced particle engineering, reflects how outsourcing partners are scaling capacity and technology to support shifting regulatory and supply chain requirements
Hamzic concludes: “Pharma companies are restructuring their pipelines, pricing strategies, and manufacturing footprints in response to a policy environment where domestic production, affordability, and supply chain resilience carry as much weight as scientific differentiation. As incentives and tariffs reshape operational decisions, CDMOs capable of offering compliant, scalable, and technologically advanced manufacturing will become increasingly central to how global biopharma executes R&D and market access strategies in the US.”
The Bio/Pharmaceutical Outsourcing Report is a monthly analysis of news and trends affecting pharmaceutical contract manufacturing organizations. The report lists the latest contract manufacturing agreements, opportunities and threats for CDMOs, M&A and financing of CDMOs, and emerging regulatory news.
