Pharma-to-CDMO facility sales have accelerated in recent months, as contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) move to expand capacity while drugmakers retool their production networks amid growing U.S. onshoring pressures. That’s the finding of data and analytics firm GlobalData.

Three major pharmaceutical facility acquisitions by CDMOs were finalized between March 15 and April 15, underscoring the recent acceleration in pharma-to-CDMO manufacturing deals, according to the latest edition of GlobalData’s monthly Bio/Pharmaceutical Outsourcing Report. The three transactions — involving Samsung Biologics, Rois, and Adragos Pharma — closed within a two-day span between March 31 and April 1; the uptick followed a comparatively slower pace of similar deal activity in prior months.

“These types of deals provide valuable expansion opportunities for the outsourcing sector and can give greater flexibility to pharma companies wanting to reconfigure their U.S. manufacturing footprints,” according to GlobalData.

The recent wave of finalized acquisitions began on March 31, when South Korea-based Samsung Biologics completed its acquisition of a biolmanufacturing facility in Rockville, Maryland, from GSK, establishing the company’s first U.S. manufacturing presence.

The Rockville site includes two cGMP manufacturing plants with a combined 60,000 liters of drug substance capacity, supporting both clinical and commercial biologics production across multiple scales. With the acquisition, Samsung Biologics contends that its total global manufacturing capacity increased to 845,000 liters.

Samsung Biologics said it will continue supplying products previously manufactured at the site to GSK under the terms of the agreement, while transitioning the facility to support additional contract manufacturing needs. The acquisition also adds to Samsung’s recent expansion efforts in biologics manufacturing; earlier in March, Samsung and Eli Lilly announced plans to establish a Lilly Gateway Labs site at Samsung Biologics’ Bio Campus II in Incheon, South Korea, which is designed to support early-stage biotechnology companies advancing drug development and manufacturing.

Meanwhile, just one day later, on April 1, Rois — the CDMO arm of Rovi — completed its acquisition of an injectable drug-product manufacturing and packaging facility in Phoenix, Arizona, through a deal with Bristol Myers Squibb. The acquisition, which was initially announced last October, includes a five-year manufacturing agreement under which Rois will continue producing products for BMS.

The Phoenix facility adds approximately 34,000 square meters (366,000 square feet) of manufacturing space to Rois’ network. The site can handle high-potent cytotoxic products, vaccines, obesity drugs, monoclonal antibodies, biosimilars, and antibody-drug conjugates, according to the company. Under the manufacturing agreement, Rovi will receive a minimum of $50 million annually over the five-year term.

Also on April 1, Munich-based Adragos Pharma completed its acquisition of a commercial-scale sterile fill-finish facility in Maisons-Alfort, France, from Sanofi.

The Maisons-Alfort site, located southeast of Paris, is designed for industrial-scale manufacturing of pre-filled syringes, liquid vials, and lyophilized vials, according to the company. The acquisition expanded Adragos’ sterile injectables network, adding pre-filled syringe manufacturing capabilities to its existing vial and ampoule filling operations in Jura, Switzerland, and Livron, France.

The recent burst of deal activity follows several other notable pharma-to-CDMO transactions that were finalized more sporadically over the past year. In January 2026, Celltrion completed its acquisition of Eli Lilly’s 37-acre active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing site in Branchburg, New Jersey, after first announcing the transaction in September 2025. The South Korean CDMO later added that it would invest up to 700 billion KRW ($478 million) to expand production capacity at the site in response to evolving U.S. tariff policies.

The expansion at the API plant in Branchburg will be rolled out in phases and position Celltrion to build an integrated U.S.-based manufacturing supply chain, according to the company.

Celltrion’s contract manufacturing (CMO) business “will be actively expanded around the Branchburg facility, leveraging the growing demand for pharmaceutical production in the U.S.,” Celltrion said in a letter to shareholders. “Under the previously agreed CMO contract with Eli Lilly, revenue generation will begin immediately upon acquisition, allowing for early recovery of investment.”

Also, in September 2025, Thermo Fisher Scientific finalized its acquisition of Sanofi’s sterile fill-finish and packaging facility in Ridgefield, New Jersey, which is now part of Thermo Fisher’s pharma services business. Under the agreement, Thermo Fisher will continue producing a portfolio of therapies for Sanofi.

The Ridgefield site is being positioned as a North American hub for integrated sterile fill-finish, autoinjector final assembly, and commercial packaging. Thermo Fisher recently announced a collaboration with SHL Medical to integrate autoinjector assembly with sterile fill-finish and commercial packaging at the site.

Ridgefield complements Thermo Fisher’s broader sterile manufacturing network, which includes sites in Allentown, Pennsylvania; Horsham, UK; Ferentino, Italy; and a planned capability expansion at its facility in Greenville, North Carolina, along with additional capacity expansion in the Asia-Pacific region.

Thermo Fisher will expand use of the Ridgefield site to “meet the growing demand from pharma and biotech customers for U.S. manufacturing capacity,” William Blair analysts wrote in a recent note to investors.

The analysts called out Thermo Fisher’s six sites for injectables with capabilities across multiple formats, including its integrated small- and large-molecule finished dose site in Greenville, two sites in Asia, and three European sites “which combined make it the world’s largest sterile fill/finish CDMO.”

Andy Lundin has more than 10 years of experience in business-to-business publishing producing digital content for audiences in the medical and automotive industries, among others. He currently works as Senior Editor for Pharma Manufacturing and is responsible for feature writing and production of the podcast.

His prior publications include MEDQOR, a real-time healthcare business intelligence platform, and Bobit Business Media. Andy graduated from California State University-Fullerton in 2014 with a B.A. in journalism. He lives in Long Beach, California.