Pharmaceutical companies are asking more – and different – of their outsourcing partners at the same time as qualified capacity, regulatory scrutiny, and program complexity are making those partnerships harder to manage.
Those pressures will be at the center of the 25th Annual Contracting & Outsourcing Conference & Tabletop Exhibition, taking place September 24–25, 2026, at the Hyatt Regency in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
This year, Ben Locwin, PhD, MBA, Vice President at Reliant Life Sciences, will represent Reliant on the conference agenda, bringing his perspective to an audience of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, manufacturing, and outsourcing leaders.
His session title gets directly to the challenge facing the industry today: “The New Rules of Pharma Outsourcing.”
What Are the New Rules of Pharmaceutical Outsourcing?
Pharmaceutical outsourcing decisions once centered heavily on a relatively straightforward question: Does the provider have the technical capabilities to perform the work?
That question still matters. It just isn’t enough.
Today’s organizations must consider capacity, cost, quality, regulatory readiness, supply chain exposure, operational compatibility and the ability of internal and external teams to work effectively together. At the same time, changes in therapeutic modalities, development pipelines and manufacturing strategies are making the outsourcing landscape more complex.
That means choosing a CDMO or other external partner is only part of the equation. Pharmaceutical companies also need to determine how the partnership will operate, how responsibilities will be shared, how risks will be managed and how both organizations will respond when priorities or conditions change.
These are among the challenges Locwin will bring to the conversation at Contract Pharma 2026. His perspective is that strong outsourcing decisions cannot be reduced to a provider scorecard. Capability, capacity and cost matter, but so do governance, communication, regulatory maturity and the people responsible for managing the relationship when conditions change.
“The right outsourcing partner is not simply the company that can perform the work – because everyone will say they ‘can’ perform the work… It is the organization that can support the program’s technical, regulatory and operational realities as those needs evolve.”
Ben Locwin, Vice President, Reliant Life Sciences
Six Outsourcing Decisions Pharma Leaders Are Reconsidering
The conference agenda reflects just how broad the pharmaceutical outsourcing conversation has become. Across the two-day event, several themes stand out for leaders responsible for manufacturing, operations, development, quality and external partnerships.
1. A Changing Pharmaceutical Outsourcing Environment
The CDMO landscape continues to shift alongside changes in therapeutic modalities, manufacturing requirements, capacity needs, supply chains and investment priorities.
For pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, understanding that environment is increasingly important to determining not only what to outsource, but when, where and to whom.
The decisions organizations make today can have implications well beyond an individual project, particularly as companies determine which capabilities should remain internal and which are better accessed through external partners.
2. Building More Effective Manufacturing and Operations Partnerships
Technical capabilities remain essential, but successful pharmaceutical manufacturing partnerships depend on more than equipment and expertise.
Manufacturers and their external partners must align expectations around communication, decision-making, quality, timelines, accountability and risk.
As programs become more complex and relationships span multiple functions, sites and geographies, the ability to operate effectively as partners can become as important as the underlying technical solution.
Ben explored this challenge in greater depth in The Human Decisions Behind Stronger Pharma Partnerships and Smarter AI, examining how trust, governance and clear accountability influence the performance of external partnerships.
3. Understanding the CDMO Market Landscape
The CDMO market outlook is being shaped by a widening distinction between available capacity and truly qualified capacity.
Capacity, specialization, investment, geographic considerations and changing customer needs can all influence pharmaceutical outsourcing decisions. Understanding those market dynamics helps organizations make better near-term sourcing decisions while considering the longer-term implications for their manufacturing strategies.
For leaders, the challenge isn’t simply finding available capacity. It’s determining whether that capacity aligns with the requirements, risks and future needs of the program.
4. Preparing for FDA Inspections and Regulatory Scrutiny
Regulatory readiness remains inseparable from outsourcing strategy.
The conference agenda includes an FDA regulatory update as well as discussion around using regulatory intelligence to de-risk CMC submissions.
For organizations relying on external manufacturing partners, regulatory responsibility does not simply transfer to the CDMO. Sponsors still need appropriate visibility into the quality systems, processes, documentation and controls supporting their products.
That makes regulatory readiness an important consideration both when selecting a partner and throughout the relationship.
5. Selecting the Right CDMO
Another conference session will explore the three Cs of CDMO selection: capability, capacity and cost.
Capability, capacity and cost provide an important starting point. Strategic fit determines whether those strengths can translate into a successful working relationship for a particular product, modality and stage of development.
The lowest-cost provider may not offer the right capacity or expertise. The organization with the strongest technical capabilities may not be the best operational fit. And a partner that performs well for one product, modality or stage of development may not be the right choice for another.
Strong CDMO selection requires evaluating these variables together rather than in isolation.
6. Rethinking R&D Outsourcing
Outsourcing strategy begins well before a product reaches commercial manufacturing.
As companies determine which capabilities to develop internally and which to access externally, those decisions can influence development speed, organizational flexibility, knowledge transfer, risk and eventual manufacturing strategy.
The question isn’t simply whether R&D can be outsourced. It’s whether outsourcing a particular capability supports the organization’s larger development and commercialization objectives.
Contract Pharma Celebrates 25 Years of Industry Conversation
The 2026 event marks the 25th anniversary of the Contracting & Outsourcing Conference & Tabletop Exhibition.
The conference brings together pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, contract manufacturers, service organizations, suppliers and industry experts to examine issues shaping pharmaceutical development and manufacturing.
The tabletop exhibition on September 24 also gives attendees an opportunity to connect with organizations providing manufacturing, packaging, laboratory and other services across the pharmaceutical outsourcing ecosystem.
The breadth of the outsourcing ecosystem will also be visible on the exhibition floor. The current sponsor and exhibitor lists include organizations such as Thermo Fisher Scientific, AbbVie, Sharp and Catalent, alongside providers spanning drug development, manufacturing, packaging, laboratory services and specialized technical support.
Hear Ben Locwin at Contract Pharma 2026
As pharmaceutical outsourcing becomes more complex, organizations need to look beyond individual transactions and consider how external partnerships support broader manufacturing, quality, regulatory and business objectives.
Ben Locwin’s participation in Contract Pharma 2026 gives Reliant Life Sciences an opportunity to contribute directly to that conversation and share perspectives informed by Reliant’s work supporting biotech and pharmaceutical companies across quality, validation, manufacturing and regulatory functions.
For pharmaceutical leaders, the evolving outsourcing environment raises important questions about what to outsource, which partners to trust and how to build relationships capable of supporting both immediate program needs and longer-term objectives.
Those questions are helping define the new rules of pharma outsourcing.
- Event: 25th Annual Contracting & Outsourcing Conference & Tabletop Exhibition
- Dates: September 24–25, 2026
- Location: Hyatt Regency, New Brunswick, New Jersey
- Ben Locwin’s Session: What Sponsors Need from CDMOs Now.
Planning to attend Contract Pharma 2026?
Review the full conference agenda and make plans to hear Ben Locwin on Thursday, September 24th, at 9:20 a.m.
Navigating a complex outsourcing decision?
Talk with a Reliant Life Sciences expert about the experience and support your program requires.
Written by: Ben Locwin, Vice President at Reliant Life Sciences.
