Webinar Recap: CDMOs for Softgel Capsules
Last week, we hosted a webinar on CDMOs for softgel capsules that brought together an engaged audience of pharmaceutical industry professionals from around the world.
The strong turnout reflects just how critical—and how complex—the topic of outsourcing softgel manufacturing has become for pharma and biotech companies navigating today's market. Below, we recap a few of the key points, including some of the critical questions asked during our Q&A session.
Introduction to the Softgel CDMO Landscape
Selecting and working with a CDMO for softgel capsules presents unique challenges. It's a niche technology with a limited pool of specialized players, significant know-how barriers, and pricing dynamics that differ meaningfully from other dosage forms.
To unpack these dynamics, our webinar brought together three industry experts with complementary perspectives on the topic. Kyriakos Kansos and George Ntortas, partners at Fuliginous Management Consulting, bring decades of combined experience in the CDMO industry, with deep expertise in market analysis, costing, and pricing strategy.
The Softgel CDMO Market
Both Kyriakos and George from Fuliginous Management Consulting opened the session with a comprehensive overview of the softgel CDMO landscape. They highlighted several key market dynamics:
The global softgel market is expected to grow at approximately 7.5% CAGR, with contract manufacturing growing even faster at 8.6%
Out of 759 mapped pharma CDMOs worldwide, only 82 offer softgel capabilities, and just 8 are fully dedicated to softgels
In Europe, 32 CDMOs operate softgel facilities, evenly distributed across regions
They also noted rising demand for gelatin alternatives, smaller batch sizes in RFQs, and the growing strategic importance of supply chain resilience.
CDMO Selection Best Practices
Next up was our very own Yanitsa Miteva. She walked through a structured framework for evaluating softgel CDMOs, highlighting why selection is particularly challenging:
Hardware alone is never enough; know-how, track record, and team experience are equally critical
Documentation quality and review processes are often underestimated but make or break development projects
Analytical development capacity, especially for dissolution, is frequently a limiting resource
Soft factors like responsiveness and transparency during the RFQ phase predict execution quality
Yanitsa brought the framework to life with a real case study comparing three CDMOs for a high-potent, low-dose orphan drug project, showing how batch size capabilities, analytical expertise, and commercial considerations all shape the final decision.
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Pricing Strategy and Profitability
George and Kyriakos returned to close the webinar with a deep dive into pricing models and profitability measurements. They outlined three pricing approaches every CDMO should consider—cost-plus, market-minus, and competitive benchmarking—and explained why relying on just one leaves either money or deals on the table.
A key insight from their presentation was that different profitability metrics, such as contribution, gross profit, and EBITDA, answer fundamentally different questions, and the right metric depends on the CDMO's specific situation, strategy, and constraints.
Questions from the Audience About CDMOs
The Q&A surfaced several recurring themes worth highlighting:
What are the most common pricing mistakes CDMOs make?
All experts agreed here that inflated cost calculations (often padded "just to be safe"), insufficient understanding of the competitive landscape, lack of a proper RFQ and costing tool, and weak cross-functional alignment within the CDMO itself.
Beyond price, what differentiates a softgel CDMO?
Kyriakos elaborated on the idea that the ability to proactively address customer uncertainties—particularly around technical expertise, supply chain resilience, and project management for tech transfer—and being genuinely easy to work with in terms of communication and flexibility.
What happens if you realize you've selected the wrong CDMO?
Yanitsa discussed that it depends on where you are in the project. Early on, change fast. Later in the program, the cost of switching may outweigh supporting the CDMO through targeted investments or bringing in third-party capabilities to fill specific gaps.
What soft signals indicate a good fit?
All signalled early involvement of analytical and scientific teams (not just a single point of contact), knowledgeable leadership engaged in document review, internal alignment on strategy across the CDMO, and clear, consistent communication during the RFQ phase.
How can CDMOs benchmark their pricing?
Either through external support, or by building a strong internal database of past quotes with systematic feedback from customers on both won and lost bids, particularly understanding why prices were rejected.
Final Thoughts
The key takeaway was clear: successful CDMO partnerships for softgels require looking beyond price and capability checklists. Understanding the market landscape, rigorously evaluating know-how and documentation processes, and recognizing the different pricing logics CDMOs apply are all essential for making informed outsourcing decisions. However, even the best selection process must be paired with ongoing engagement and alignment to ensure projects stay on track from development through commercial supply.
This webinar was made possible through collaboration between The Science of Soft Capsules and Fuliginous Management Consulting.
Stay tuned for our next webinar! Follow us on LinkedIn or subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to know about our upcoming expert sessions on softgel capsule development.
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