Global Market Size, Forecast, and Trend Highlights Over 2025-2037
Life Sciences BPO Market size was over USD 490.2 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 1.61 trillion by 2037, growing at around 9.6% CAGR during the forecast period i.e., between 2025-2037. In the year 2025, the industry size of life sciences BPO is assessed at USD 527.85 billion.
The rising need for bio-based medicines to combat life-threatening conditions including malignancies and pandemics is fueling the requirement for large-scale and cost-efficient production, bolstering the market. As the patient pool for these medical threats grows, the focus on core competencies among pharmacological pioneers magnifies. A projection of probable new cases of lung cancer, across 40 selected nations, was released in February 2023 by the JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, highlighting a 65.3% increment (total 2.1 million) till 2035 from 2011. Thus, the companies seek suitable outsourcing services for non-core activities, such as manufacturing and marketing, associated with every new launch to cope with such demand.
The most attractive feature of the life sciences BPO market is the significant cost reduction in operations and development. The post-pandemic boom in biopharmaceutical R&D has emphasized the importance of outsourcing to get assistance in maintaining scalability, flexibility, and affordability. On this note, an IQVIA report observed a notable 15.0% rise in worldwide biopharmaceutical findings with new molecules till February 2022 from 2016. There, the R&D expenditure and annual revenue were up to USD 200.0 million and USD 500.0 million respectively. On the other hand, a study from February 2022, evaluated the payers’ pricing for related drugs and highlighted the urge for expense optimization in development and manufacturing.
Comparative Presentation of Development Cost Between Generics and Biosimilars (2022)
|
Type of Drugs |
Duration (in years) |
Range of Cost (in million) |
|
Generic |
2 |
1.0-4.0 |
|
Biosimilar |
7-8 |
100.0-250.0 |
Source: ScienceDirect
Life Sciences BPO Sector: Growth Drivers and Challenges
Growth Drivers
- Integration of tech-based development tools: The introduction of automation, AI, and data analysis has escalated productivity in the life sciences BPO market, attracting more biopharma leaders to invest. For instance, in October 2023, Salesforce unveiled a cloud-based platform, Life Sciences Cloud, enabling a faster pace and ensuring patient safety. This AI-powered tool is specifically engineered to ensure seamless integration and enhance accuracy, targeting 88.0% of the potentially capable unaware healthcare and life sciences pioneers. Such innovations are leveraging the efficiency of clinical operations, inspiring others to engage in complete digitalization, and propelling engagement in this field.
- Increasing investments in the biopharma and MedTech industry: Funding and grants from both private and public organizations are acting as a financial cushion for the market. Considering the necessity of compliance and technical support, many investors are now engaging their resources in elevating production and globalization. On this note, in October 2024, the Ministry of Business and Industry in Denmark allocated USD 58.4 million to empower the future of the nationwide life science industry. The strategy behind this was set to ignite notable propagation in global exports in this category, with a push of USD 25.7 billion by 2030 from 2023. These ambitious goals are poised to eventually result in massive growth in this sector.
Challenges
- Limitations in maintaining privacy and quality: Uncertainty in securing the ownership of intellectual properties and clinical data often creates difficulty for the life sciences BPO market. There are various security and compliance policies, such as GDPR and HIPAA, requiring strict adherence to every healthcare-associated commercialization. Thus, any data breach or non-compliance may result in severe legal and reputational loss to the service providers, discouraging potential leaders. Furthermore, attaining the appropriate industry-specific standards may become challenging for these large-scale manufacturers, hindering the process of clinical trials and regulatory submissions.
- Vendor locking and economic barriers: Constant reliance on a single service provider dilutes the interest of newcomers in participation in the market. Such overdependence also creates immense financial and quality-assurance pressure on these vendors, which results in vandalizing crucial terms of contractual agreements. This issue requires new business opportunities and a transparent trading atmosphere to be mitigated, which is often difficult to achieve in the case of economically constrained medical settings. Furthermore, fluctuations in product pricing and cost of active ingredients conjugatively impact the vendor-customer relationship.
Life Sciences BPO Market: Key Insights
|
Base Year |
2024 |
|
Forecast Year |
2025-2037 |
|
CAGR |
9.6% |
|
Base Year Market Size (2024) |
USD 490.2 billion |
|
Forecast Year Market Size (2037) |
USD 1.61 trillion |
|
Regional Scope |
|
Life Sciences BPO Segmentation
Service (Pharmaceutical Outsourcing, Medical Devices Outsourcing, Contract Sales & Market Outsourcing, Others)
Pharmaceutical outsourcing segment is likely to capture life sciences BPO market share of over 57.3% by 2037. Continuous expansion of the biopharmaceutical industry is remarkably fueling this segment. Globally, this merchandise contributed USD 1838.0 billion to the GDP till 2022 while accounting for 5.5 million employments, as per the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA). Additionally, the genre of contractual pharmacology is becoming a streamlined business worldwide, bringing flexibility and availability to every medical system. The combined force of these growth factors with the wide spectrum of commodities, including recruitment, monitoring, and compliance, is propelling demand in this segment.
Our in-depth analysis of the global market includes the following segments:
|
Service |
|
Want to customize this research report as per your requirements? Our research team will cover the information you require to help you take effective business decisions.
Customize this ReportLife Sciences BPO Industry - Regional Synopsis
APAC Market Statistics
By the end of 2037, Asia Pacific life sciences BPO market is set to hold over 40.4% revenue share. Emerging pharmaceutical manufacturing landscapes, such as India, China, and Japan, are meticulously promoting cost-effective business processes. Hiring a third-party manufacturer has notably improved and reduced the pricing and marketing strategy and budget accordingly. Thus, contractual development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) have gained traction in this region. On this note, Research Nester reported that the APAC pharmaceutical contract manufacturing and research services industry is predicted to capture the largest share of 42.9% of the global revenue volume. This is testifying the region’s proprietorship in this field.
The enlarging market in India is pledged to significant progress and advances in its bioeconomy. The nation’s biotechnology merchandise shows the potential to attain USD 150.0 billion by 2025 and USD 270.0-300.0 billion by 2030: according to IBEF. With favorable government policies, encouraging the domestic production of medical assets, the country is propagating a remarkable R&D and manufacturing capacity. This is garnering a profitable atmosphere for the pioneers in this sector, attracting both local and international leaders to invest. For instance, in April 2024, RPG Life Sciences Limited secured USD 67.0 million and USD 13.5 million in year-on-year operational revenue and profit before tax (PBT), registering 14.0% and 29.0% increments respectively by the year ending.
China is strengthening its leadership in the life sciences BPO market with a strong emphasis on the medical device industry. The country is poised to exhibit a notable CAGR of 8.3% in this category during the timeline between 2021 and 2026, reaching USD 48.8 billion by 2026: as per the International Trade Administration. This alluring marketplace for healthcare tools is widespread across various healthcare disciplines such as consumables, diagnostic imaging, patient aids, orthopedic & prosthetics, dental, and others. Thus, the opportunities for outsourcing are exponentially widening. This is further signified by the increased exports of associated equipment. On this note, OEC reported that the exports of medical instruments in China increased by 27.9% in 2024, accounting for USD 954.0 million.
North America Market Analysis
North America is expected to register significant growth in the life sciences BPO market throughout the forecasted timeframe. This region is highly influenced by the rapid penetration of AI and automation in pharmacology R&D. The enhanced productivity and accuracy in clinical operations are crafting a lucrative atmosphere for global giants in this sector. Moreover, technological innovations are pushing the territory of this field forward, presenting a greater scope of doing business. According to a Research Nester report, North America is projected to secure the highest share of 44.5% in the AI in life science analytics industry over the period between 2025 and 2037 while exhibiting a remarkable CAGR of 11.0%.
The well-established healthcare system of the U.S. is increasing the demand for a good supply of efficient medication and infrastructure, fueling the market. In addition, the country is also leading in high expenditure on biopharmaceutical R&D and medical services. This pushes this landscape to cultivate sufficient resources of associated commodities, fostering opportunities for involved contractual producers. The U.S. ranked 1st and 2nd in the world as an exporter of medical instruments and pharmaceutical products accordingly with values of USD 34.8 billion and USD 100.0 billion in 2023. The country was also internationally recognized as the largest importer of both fields by attaining USD 37.7 billion and USD 170.0 billion in the same sequence and year: as per OEC.
Canada is enriching the life sciences BPO market with government and regulatory support. Authorities of this country are proactively investing to expand the boundaries of this field to accommodate the nationwide medical network with sufficient solutions. For instance, in the 2021 Federal Budget, the government of Canada established a commitment to investing USD 2.2 billion in strengthening the domestic biomanufacturing and life sciences capacity. Further, in February 2025, to upscale the production and discoveries in this category, they allocated USD 6.0 million in funds for adMare BioInnovations to found a 30,000-square-foot facility in Vancouver, British Columbia. Such continuous capital influx is a feedstock for local biotech and pharma growth, propelling extension in this sector.
Companies Dominating the Life Sciences BPO Landscape
- Atos SE
- Company Overview
- Business Strategy
- Key Product Offerings
- Financial Performance
- Key Performance Indicators
- Risk Analysis
- Recent Development
- Regional Presence
- SWOT Analysis
- Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH
- Catalent, Inc.
- Labcorp Drug Development
- Genpact
- ICON plc
- Infosys Limited
- IBM
- Lonza
- Parexel
- IQVIA Inc.
- RPG Life Sciences Limited
- Clarivate Plc
Companies in the life sciences BPO market, particularly from technology-driven countries, are upscaling their operations by incorporating AI and machine learning. Many pioneers are now showing interest in developing tools to enhance the pace and kinetics of related product development, empowering the quality of services. For instance, in September 2024, Hexaware, in collaboration with PointCross Life Sciences, unveiled a Clinical Data Automation as a Solution (CDAaaS) platform. The tool is crafted to enable cost and analytical efficiency from collection to submission. Such innovations are further fed with heavy capital and a large force of professionals, encompassing the potential to leverage the market’s reach. These key players are:
In the News
- In January 2025, Clarivate launched an innovative platform, DRG Fusion, to support commercial analytics in life sciences. The new Analytics Product is backed by Real-World Data and clinical & data science experts, helping biopharma and MedTech organizations excel in varied disease and competitive landscapes.
- In October 2024, BASE Life Science partnered with Boomi to offer enhanced services for the life sciences industry by amalgamating cloud-based systems and laboratory expertise. This collaboration benefited the company to offer modernized and increased productivity throughout prescription medicine development while reducing overall cost.
Author Credits: Radhika Pawar
- Report ID: 7361
- Published Date: Mar 21, 2025
- Report Format: PDF, PPT
