Drug Discovery Outsourcing Services Market Size, Share, Industry, Forecast and Outlook (2024-2031)

Global Drug Discovery Outsourcing Services Market is segmented By Service Type (Medical Chemistry Services, Biology Services) By Drug Type (Small Molecule, Large Molecules (Biopharmaceuticals)) By Therapeutic Areas (Oncology, Infectious Disease, Respiratory Disease, Cardiovascular, Gastrointestinal, Others) By End User (Contract Research Organizations, Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies, Academic Institutes, Others) and By Region (North America, Europe, South America, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa) – Share, Size, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2024-2031

Market Overview

The Global  Drug Discovery Outsourcing Services Market reached US$ YY million in 2022 and is expected to reach US$ YY million by 2030, growing with a CAGR of YY% during the forecast period 2024-2031.

Drug discovery outsourcing services refer to the range of scientific and technological services to facilitate the discovery and development of new drugs for various therapeutic areas or diseases. The drug discovery process includes target identification to identify potential drug targets, such as proteins or genes involved in disease processes, and validate their therapeutic potential. medicinal chemistry, ADME-TOX studies which are absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity to assess the behaviour of the drug within the body and its potential adverse effects, pharmacology studies to assess the efficacy, safety and pharmacological properties and preclinical development and formulation development followed by clinical trials. 

Market Scope

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Market Dynamics: Drivers and Restraints

Rise in the AI-enabled drug discovery methods

Companies hoping to leverage AI need a full view of all their data, not just bits and pieces. This demands a research infrastructure that lets computational and experimental teams collaborate, uniting workflows and sharing data across domains and locations. Careful process and methodology standardization are also needed to ensure that results obtained with the help of AI are repeatable.

For instance, in July 2023, kissei Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. introduced Makya, an AI drug discovery system from Iktos. This will enable the rapid design of new small molecules suitable for target criteria using AI technology, leading to an increase in the speed of drug discovery and development.

Moreover, in May 2023, Google Cloud announced two new AI-powered life sciences solutions to accelerate drug discovery and precision medicine for biotech companies, pharmaceutical firms, and public sector organizations. Available worldwide, the Target and Lead Identification Suite helps researchers better identify the function of amino acids and predict the structure of proteins; and the Multiomics Suite accelerates the discovery and interpretation of genomic data, helping companies design precision treatments. 

Furthermore, factors like the rise in chronic diseases, expanding biologics market, and increasing research and development facilities are increasing the pharmaceutical drug delivery market, latest technological advancements such as Al integration and healthcare digitization create new opportunities for the market. 

Market Restraint

One of the key factors expected to hamper the growth of the global drug discovery outsourcing market is the high cost of drug development. Drug development is an expensive, time-consuming, and long-term process. Higher costs associated with preclinical studies for drug discovery are the biggest challenge. Also, other factors like stringent rules & regulations for drug manufacturing, intellectual property rights, Risk of non-compliance with regulatory requirements by CMO and others factors hamper the market growth during the forecast period.

Segment Analysis

The global drug discovery outsourcing services market is segmented based on service type, drug type, therapeutic areas, end user and region.

The biology services segment from the service type segment accounted for approximately 41.7% of the drug discovery outsourcing services market share

The biology services segment from the service type segment accounted for approximately 41.7% and it is expected to be dominated during the forecast period. Biological services encompass a range of specialized offerings that involve the study and manipulation of biological systems, such as cells, tissues, and biomolecules, to facilitate the identification and development of potential therapeutic compounds. Biological services play a pivotal role in assessing the interactions between complex potential drug candidates and living organisms at the cellular and molecular levels.

For instance, in January 2023, BenchSci is excited to announce the launch of our latest technology that aims to transform and improve outcomes and timelines for this crucial stage of drug discovery. ASCEND by BenchSci, our revolutionary new AI software platform has the potential to fundamentally change preclinical research. Building on the success of our AI-assisted reagent selection application, we’ve developed new applications to empower scientists to discover biological connections, dramatically reduce trial-and-error experimentation and uncover risks early to move the most promising projects forward faster. 

Geographical Analysis

North America accounted for approximately 38.4% of the market share in 2022

North America is estimated to hold about 38.4% of the total market share throughout the forecast period, owing to the technological advancements, presence of well-established research infrastructure & key players, and higher investments in drug discovery R&D, acquisitions with key players, rising need for efficiency, quality, and innovation are expected to contribute to market growth.

For instance, in April 2022, Charles River Laboratories International and Valo Health launched Logica, an AI-powered drug solution that translates clients' biological insights into optimized preclinical assets. The solution uses Valo's AI-powered Opal Computational Platform and Charles River's preclinical expertise to provide clients with a single integrated offering, translating targets to candidate nominations. The partnership aims to integrate Charles River's laboratory capabilities with AI-driven molecular design, providing clients with advanced leads and candidates while tying client costs to value generation.

Moreover, in December 2021, Labcorp stated that it had acquired Toxikon Corporation, a contract research company offering nonclinical testing services. The addition of Toxikon to LabCorp drug development enhances the company's strong nonclinical development portfolio and assists in generating a strategic footprint for the company to partner with pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients.

COVID-19 Impact Analysis

COVID-19 had a substantial impact on the drug discovery outsourcing services market owing to the high demand for vaccine discovery by various pharmaceutical and biotech companies in the past three years. Drug discovery outsourcing has become a key aspect of developing effective treatments against the virus. For instance, in June 2021, Catalent, Inc. collaborated with Moderna, Inc. for the manufacturing of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and potentially other investigational programs in Moderna’s pipeline at Catalent’s biologics facility in Bloomington, Indiana. 

Competitive Landscape

The major global players in the market include ThermoFisher Scientific, Charles River Laboratories International Inc., WuXi AppTec Co.Ltd., Albany Molecular Research, Inc., Aragen Life Sciences Ltd, Sygnature Discovery, Pharmaron Beijing Co. Ltd, Domainex Ltd., Jubilant Biosys Ltd., Evotec and among others.

Key Developments

• In November 2022, Sanofi and Insilico Medicine, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, inked a USD 1200 million Drug Development Deal. The agreement will see Sanofi use Insilico’s AI platform, Pharma.AI, to advance drug development in up to six new targets.
• In October 2022, Amphista Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focusing on drug discovery projects that use targeted protein degradation (TPD), collaborated with Domainex, a medicines research service partner, as a partner to provide integrated drug discovery services for its research programs. Amphista will benefit from the expertise in protein production, assay biology, and medicinal chemistry of Domainex.

Why Purchase the Report?

• To visualize the global drug discovery outsourcing services market segmentation based on service type, drug type, therapeutic areas, end user and region as well as understand key commercial assets and players.
• Identify commercial opportunities by analysing trends and co-development. 
• Excel data sheet with numerous data points of drug discovery outsourcing services market-level with all segments.
• PDF report consists of a comprehensive analysis after exhaustive qualitative interviews and an in-depth study.
• Product mapping available as excel consisting of key products of all the major players.

The global drug discovery outsourcing services market report would provide approximately 61 tables, 58 figures and 187 Pages.

Target Audience 2023

• Manufacturers/ Buyers
• Industry Investors/Investment Bankers
• Research Professionals
• Emerging Companies