Zeenat Parween, Correspondent, India Pharma Outlook
The global market response to products like semaglutide and tirzepatide based on GLP-1 is changing the weight-loss drug industry and present a new opportunity to ensure pharma contract manufacturing partners have a more central role in large output. With an increased level of adoption of these therapies, innovators continue to source pharmaceutical contract manufacturers to manage scale and regulatory compliance as well as the supply chain in an effort to be successful.
According to McKinsey the GLP-1 prescriptions are experiencing high double-digit growth, and the worldwide sales will surpass 100 billion dollars in 2030. This boom is causing capacity shortage and opening the doors to weight-loss drug CDMO partners who want to close the gap. Whether it's managing complex peptide synthesis or enabling pharma scalability for weight loss, contract manufacturers are now central to this shift.
The phenomenal success of semaglutide (Wegovy, Ozempic) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound) has revealed the manufacturing industry is overwhelmed due to the capacity shortfall. Even giant companies such as Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are unable to serve the escalating demand across the world.
According to J.P. Morgan Research, GLP-1-based drug sales could exceed $100 billion by 2030, with obesity treatment accounting for nearly half. The drugs, primarily injectable peptides, demand cold-chain logistics, sterile manufacturing, and intricate formulations.
This is where pharma contract manufacturing steps in. "While Novo and Lilly move ahead with long-term capacity build-outs, the immediate need for supply has spurred interest in contract manufacturers," said Anshul Agarwal, Practice Lead at ZS Associates. "Over time, companies will look to CDMOs with end-to-end expertise, clinical-grade quality, and responsiveness to address supply bottlenecks."
Not every weight-loss drug CDMO is ready to manufacture GLP-1. The anti-obesity contract manufacturing process requires specific infrastructure demand, such as facility adaptation to assist those manufacturers of sterile injectables, the capability of handling anti-obesity API manufacturers, GMP compliance for weight-loss drugs manufacturing, and cold chain liability. This is where GLP-1 drug India manufacturers who are cost effective and USFDA approved are coming as the partners of choice.
Those CDMOs that have backward integration, experience in handling peptides, and align with global regulatory are particularly competitive. Their capacity to scale up to commercial production following a small-batch clinical supply provides long term value, addressing the growing demand for scaling weight-loss drug production via outsourcing.
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OneSource Group is an example of midsized CDMOs rising to demand of GLP-1. During the FY2025 OneSource contracted numerous development and tech-transfer related to GLP-1 analogues and made a commitment on sterile injectable production and automated cartridge fill-finish lines.
According to a report in The Economic Times - Pharma, OneSource posted its first profitable year with 30% YoY growth and EBITDA margins of 43%. The company announced a $100 million capex to scale further and aims to become a top GLP-1 drugs India partner for global biotech firms.
This move underscores how contract manufacturing weight-loss drugs is transitioning from a niche opportunity to a cornerstone of global pharmaceutical supply chains.
CDMO Opportunities 2025: India’s Strategic EdgeThe already developed generics ecosystem and a rich reservoir of pharmaceutical contract manufacturers in India provide an effective mechanism to promote obesity therapeutics. According to IBEF, India has more than 600 USFDA-approved factories, with over 60 percent share of the world, which produces vaccines and generics.
High-end Indian CDMOs such as Gland Pharma, Biological E, and Syngene are seriously assessing drug manufacturing partnership in obesity and diabetes therapeutics. These companies are spending in peptide manufacture, sterile line and regulatory system as per the USFDA and EMA standards.
"Indian CDMOs are scaling globally, leveraging their cost efficiencies but also starting to make early strides into complex and cutting-edge modalities such as ADCs and oligonucleotides," notes a recent analysis in Pharma Manufacturing, citing Boston Consulting Group.
As therapies are taking the centre stage regulatory challenges in manufacturing obesity drugs are intensifying. The USFDA and EMA are placing more control on the consistency in the batches, GMP records and cold-chain documentation. Indian regulator CDSCO is also streamlining itself with the global best practices.
Competitiveness requires CDMOs to invest in digital QMS, real-time analyzing and audit-readiness. Companies that have excellent compliance and inspection histories are getting popularity among its international clients who require high levels of assurance.
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Increase in pharma outsourcing weight loss is not limited to big pharma anymore. To ride this market, there are generics, biosimilars, and even companies that deal with digital health joining the obesity drug pipeline India.
Future-proof CDMOs are putting into oral semaglutide technology, depot injections and intelligent injectables. Companies matching tech setups with changing formulation requirements will be at the forefront of determining the best practice for contract manufacturing weight-loss therapeutics.
"Indian CDMOs are no longer just filling capacity gaps — they're providing integrated value across development, scale-up, and commercialization," said Satish Reddy, Chairman of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, during a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) event in 2024.
As demand continues to rise, successful drug manufacturing scalability will depend on transparency, dual-site production, and stronger innovation-partner ties.
The boom of GLP-1 has brought a new dimension of importance to pharma contract manufacturing. The backend support service has evolved to become a strategic game changer. With the world seeking commercially viable, compliant ways to scale over the crisis of obesity, the next era of pharmaceutical growth will unfold through innovative, scalable, and traverse regulatory environment contract manufacturers.
The question of how pharma contract manufacturers can access the demand of weight-loss drugs can be answered using the concept of agility, global alignment, future-proof infrastructure. For the right CDMOs, this is not just a fleeting opportunity — it's a structural inflection point in modern therapeutics.
What are the key opportunities for Indian CDMOs in weight-loss drug manufacturing??
Patient expectations of GLP-1 medications such as semaglutide offer opportunities to Indian CDMOs to offer API manufacturing, sterile injectable, and fill-finish services. Due to a hike in the global demand and the manufacturing ecosystem in India propped up by PLI, there is a promising possibility of being outsourcing destinations of major pharma players.
Why are GLP-1 drugs significant for pharma contract manufacturing??
The production of GLP-1 drugs such as semaglutide and tirzepatide involves complicated peptide manufacture, aseptic processing and biologics, in which sophisticated CDMOs excel. Those CDMOs which provide GMP compliance weight-loss drug, speed and Biologics capacity and are able to scale up production are likely to be the first to be utilized by global pharma.
What challenges must CDMOs overcome to serve the weight-loss drug market??
Key challenges are regulatory approvals (USFDA, EMA), maintaining the purity of peptides, handling of cold chain logistics and investment in high containment facilities. It is also the need of CDMOs to address the global pharma scalable weight loss requirements without compromising compliance.
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