The Unsung Heroes Of Drug Development: Small Pharma-Service Entrepreneurs Make A Big Impact
By Brian Scanlan, operating partner – Life Science Practice, Edgewater Capital Partners
Over the past decade, the consolidation activity in the outsourced pharma services world has left a giant chasm between the global giants and the small entrepreneurial service providers. Transaction activity has been strong, with over 400 deals in past five years alone.
1 In the U.S., the large global CDMOs have acquired a majority of the remaining independent midsize players, leaving many of my colleagues challenged to name more than a handful of truly independent midsize pharma services firms remaining in the U.S. today. With so few mid-tier players left, you might be asking, “where have all the entrepreneurs gone?” It seems those technical entrepreneurs from decades past who built the thriving outsourced pharma services industry we see today have themselves been merged into retirement as their o