Press Release   -

Vaccine Contract Manufacturing Market Poised for Expansion as Pharma Giants Accelerate Strategic Partnerships and Capacity Investments

The global market for contract manufacturing of vaccines hereafter the Vaccine Contract Manufacturing Market is entering a significant phase of growth, driven by expansion of vaccine pipelines (mRNA, viral vectors, inactivated), increasing global immunisation programmes, and outsourcing by biopharma and biotech companies. According to a report by Vantage Market Research, the market size stood at USD 2.38 billion in 2024 and is forecast to reach USD 4.86 billion by 2035, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.75% between 2025 and 2035. This press release details the market’s key take-aways, summary, segmentation insights, regional trends, major company dynamics, recent developments, report scope and underlying market drivers, restraints, opportunities and challenges.

Key Takeaways

1. The vaccine contract manufacturing market is expected to more than double in value from 2024 to 2035, signalling expanding outsourcing of vaccine production.
2. Major growth drivers include the surge in mRNA and viral-vector vaccine development, expanding global immunisation programmes, and emerging market manufacturing capacity.
3. The market remains moderately concentrated, with large CDMOs (contract development/manufacturing organisations) dominating, but new entrants and regional players gaining traction.
4. From a regional perspective, North America currently leads in market share, while Asia-Pacific is projected to register the fastest growth during the forecast period.
5. Key segments such as fill-finish services, bulk production, and expression systems (mammalian, microbial) are evolving, providing clearer focus areas for stakeholders.

Key Market Trends & Insights

Several macro-trends are shaping the landscape of vaccine contract manufacturing: First, the shift towards outsourcing by vaccine developers to contract manufacturers is strengthening as complexity (mRNA, vectored, adjuvanted vaccines) increases. Second, there is accelerating demand for flexible manufacturing capacity especially fill-finish and plug-and-play modular plants to manage surges (pandemic preparedness) and routine immunisation programmes. Third, geographic diversification of manufacturing is gaining importance, as governments push for regional capacity and supply-chain resilience. Fourth, regulatory and quality compliance remain critical: CDMOs must meet stringent GMP/CGMP standards, especially for biologics and viral vector vaccines. Finally, strategic collaborations, expansions and M&A in the CDMO space are becoming more pronounced, aligning manufacturing capacity with biopharma pipelines.

Market Size & Forecast

1. 2024 Revenue: USD 2.38 billion.
2. 2035 Forecast: USD 4.86 billion.
3. CAGR (2025-2035): 6.75%.

The vaccine contract manufacturing market is characterised by moderate to high concentration: a relatively small number of large global CDMOs dominate the space, while mid-sized and regional players serve niche or emerging markets. Key characteristics include:

1. High entry barriers: vaccine manufacturing demands GMP/CGMP compliance, specialised equipment (bioreactors, aseptic fill/finish lines), cold-chain stability, regulatory oversight and biosafety capabilities.
2. Outsourcing rationale: vaccine developers increasingly outsource upstream and downstream manufacturing to focus on R&D, clinical development and commercialisation.
3. Service scope: contract manufacturers cover a range of services from cell/virus banking, upstream (antigen production, fermentation), downstream (purification), fill-finish, labelling, packaging, analytic testing and regulatory support.
4. Global supply-chain complexity: supply of raw materials, single-use systems, vials/syringes, cold-chain logistics and workforce skills all play into capacity utilisation and reliability.
5. Regional expansion: CDMOs are investing in capacity in Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America to tap into emerging markets, localisation mandates and cost-effective manufacturing, thereby spreading geographic risk and extending capabilities.

Vaccine Type Insights

The vaccine contract manufacturing market is segmented by vaccine type into Inactivated, Live Attenuated, Subunit, Toxoid, and Others. Live attenuated and subunit vaccines hold a major share due to high global demand for infectious disease prevention and COVID-19 booster production. The growing need for rapid-response vaccines, advancements in mRNA-based technologies, and expanding government immunization initiatives further enhance manufacturing outsourcing for scalability, cost-efficiency, and faster time-to-market across pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.

Service Type Insights

Based on service type, the market is divided into Fill-Finish, Bulk Product Manufacturing, Analytical & QC Studies, and Packaging. Bulk product manufacturing dominates due to the need for high-volume vaccine production and complex bioprocessing requirements. Fill-finish services are rapidly expanding owing to the growing outsourcing of aseptic processing and sterile packaging. Contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) provide regulatory expertise, advanced facilities, and quality assurance, helping vaccine developers minimize risks and accelerate commercial supply globally.

Product Type Insights

By product type, the vaccine contract manufacturing market includes Drug Substance and Drug Product segments. The drug substance segment leads the market due to its critical role in upstream and downstream processing, fermentation, and purification. CMOs invest heavily in bioreactor capacity and single-use systems to meet vaccine developers’ demands. Meanwhile, the drug product segment is witnessing strong growth as companies focus on improving formulation, stability, and fill-finish operations to meet global distribution standards and ensure patient safety.

Regional Insights

North America Vaccine Contract Manufacturing Market Trends

North America remains the largest regional market for vaccine contract manufacturing, supported by a mature biopharma ecosystem, strong funding (government, private), and a high proportion of vaccine developers outsourcing manufacturing. The U.S. in particular has robust infrastructure, regulatory frameworks (FDA, cGMP standards) and demand for outsourcing capacity. The region also benefits from near-shoring trends and pandemic-resilience initiatives. As such, many global CDMOs maintain major manufacturing sites in North America or partner with U.S. firms. The dominance of North America offers scale, but cost pressures and competition from lower-cost regions challenge margins.

Europe Market Vaccine Contract Manufacturing Trends

Europe is a strong market for vaccine contract manufacturing, featuring many established CDMOs, strong regulatory oversight (EMA, European Medicines Agency), and a dense cluster of biotech/vaccine developers. Many manufacturers service global vaccine programmes from Europe, leveraging high quality, multiregional supply chains and export-oriented operations. However, growth is tempered by high labour and regulatory costs, and competition from Asia Pacific. European governments are increasingly incentivising vaccine manufacturing capacity and partnerships with CDMOs to secure supply chain resilience for vaccines and biologics.

Asia Pacific Vaccine Contract Manufacturing Market Trends

Asia Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing region for vaccine contract manufacturing. Key drivers include rapidly growing vaccine demand (in populous countries such as India, China, Southeast Asia), cost-effective manufacturing ecosystems, government policies encouraging localisation, and expansion of CDMO capacity in the region. Many global vaccine developers are turning to Asia Pacific CDMOs for bulk antigen production, fill-finish and supply chain diversification. Challenges remain around regulatory harmonisation, quality control and intellectual-property concerns, but growth prospects remain strong.

Latin America Vaccine Contract Manufacturing Market Trends

In Latin America, the vaccine contract manufacturing market is still developing but holds meaningful upside potential. Key factors include increasing government focus on vaccine self-sufficiency, regional manufacturing hubs, and growing demand for immunisation (including for emerging diseases). CDMOs expanding into Latin America can benefit from lower manufacturing costs and regional export possibilities. However, infrastructure gaps, regulatory heterogeneity and smaller market sizes compared to developed regions slow adoption. With improved regulatory harmonisation and investment in capacity, Latin America may emerge as a regional hub for vaccine manufacturing outsourcing.

Middle East & Africa Vaccine Contract Manufacturing Market Trends

Middle East & Africa present emerging opportunities in vaccine contract manufacturing, particularly as governments invest in health infrastructure, pandemic-resilience and local production capacity. Some Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are investing heavily in biotech manufacturing, including vaccine fill/finish and CDMO partnerships. Africa has major need for local vaccine manufacturing due to supply-chain constraints, although capacity remains nascent. Regulatory, infrastructure, workforce and financing challenges remain significant. As these are addressed, the region could become an important part of the global vaccine contract manufacturing ecosystem.

Top Key Players Vaccine Contract Manufacturing Market

1. Ajinomoto Co. Inc
2. Albany Molecular Research Inc
3. Catalent Inc
4. Cobra Biologics Limited
5. Cytovance Biologics Inc
6. Fujifilm Holdings Corporation
7. ICON PLC
8. IDT Biologika GmbH
9. Lonza Group AG
10. Merck KGaA
11. Pharmaceutical Product Development LLC
12. PRA Health Sciences Inc.

These companies are investing in expanded capacity, new technologies (mRNA/viral-vector manufacturing), and global supply-chain expansion to capitalise on outsourcing trends. Their strategic moves such as facility expansions, partnerships, acquisitions and geographical diversification are central to capturing growth in the vaccine contract manufacturing market.

Recent Developments

1. In February 2025, a news report highlighted that in July 2024, AstraZeneca plc announced a USD 254 million investment at its Cambridge facility to expand vaccine manufacturing capability; in Sep 2024, Moderna, Inc. announced plans to build a state-of-the-art mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility in Quebec, Canada.
2. In November 2024, Lonza announced expansion of its bioconjugation capabilities with two additional suites in Switzerland (about 2,000 m²) to double its capacity for launch and commercial supply of bioconjugates, underlining increased CDMO capacity investments.
3. In August 2024, Bavarian Nordic A/S entered into a strategic agreement with Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to expand Mpox vaccine production in Africa highlighting capacity expansion and regional outsourcing trends in the vaccine manufacturing ecosystem.

Market Scope

The Vantage Market Research report uses 2024 as the base year and provides forecasts through 2035. Segmentation includes By Vaccine Type/Expression System Used (e.g., mammalian, microbial, other), By Service Type/Workflow (upstream, downstream, fill-finish/packaging, analytical testing), By End-Use/Application (human vaccines, veterinary vaccines), and By Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East & Africa). The report offers revenue estimates, CAGR projections, regional breakdowns, competitive landscape, strategic insights, market drivers, restraints, opportunities and challenges.

Market Dynamics

Driver:

A primary driver of the vaccine contract manufacturing market is the growing demand for vaccines globally, including in emerging markets, and the increasing complexity of vaccine modalities (mRNA, viral vectors, adjuvanted products). Vaccine developers are more frequently outsourcing manufacturing to CDMOs to leverage specialist capacity, reduce time-to-market and manage capital investment risk. The need for rapid pandemic preparedness and large-scale immunisation also fuels outsourcing growth, as CDMOs offer scale and flexibility.

Restraint:

A key restraint is the high capital investment and regulatory burden required for vaccine manufacturing, which limits the number of viable contract manufacturers, especially in advanced modalities. Vaccine production involves stringent GMP/CGMP compliance, biosafety/biosecurity controls, cold-chain logistics, and long lead-times for facility qualification. This makes ramp-up slow, and smaller CDMOs may face barriers to entry or capacity under-utilisation in non-peak times.

Opportunity:

Significant opportunity lies in geographical diversification of manufacturing, especially in emerging economies and regions aiming to build local vaccine manufacturing capacity. CDMOs that establish manufacturing hubs in Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East & Africa can tap growth from regional immunisation programmes, localisation mandates and cost arbitrage. Moreover, expansion in fill-finish capacity, single-use manufacturing platforms, modular/flexible facilities and servicing new vaccine types (e.g., oncology vaccines) presents strategic growth avenues.

Challenges:

Key challenges include capacity matching to demand, managing peaks and troughs in manufacturing volume, ensuring supply-chain resilience (raw materials, single-use disposables, cold chain), maintaining quality/regulatory compliance globally, protecting intellectual property and trade secrets, and aligning CDMO business models with vaccine developers’ timelines that can be uncertain. Healthcare policy changes, funding variability and global supply-chain disruptions further complicate operations.

Market Segmentation

1. By Vaccine Type: Live Attenuated Vaccines, Conjugate Vaccines, Subunit Subunit Vaccines, Inactivated Vaccines, Recombinant Vector Vaccines, Toxoid Vaccines, Synthetic Vaccines
2. By Service Type: Fill-Finish, Bulk Product
3. By Product Type: Single Vaccine, Combination Vaccine
4. By Region: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East & Africa.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What was the size of the global vaccine contract manufacturing market in 2024?

It was USD 2.38 billion.

1. What is the projected market size by 2035?

It is expected to reach USD 4.86 billion.

1. What is the CAGR from 2025 to 2035?

6.75%.

1. Which region currently dominates the market?

North America holds the largest share today.

1. Which region is expected to grow fastest?

Asia Pacific is projected to grow the fastest over the forecast period.

1. What are the major service types in vaccine contract manufacturing?

Major types include fill-finish/packaging, upstream antigen production, downstream purification, and analytical/testing services.

1. Which vaccine type expresses highest outsourcing demand?

Inactivated, viral vector and mRNA vaccine types are among those driving outsourcing demand, with expression system types such as mammalian seeing strong share.

1. Who are the key players in this market?

Key companies include Lonza Group AG, Catalent Inc, Boehringer Ingelheim BioXcellence, WuXi Biologics, IDT Biologika and others offering vaccine contract manufacturing services.