Cytiva has announced the release of its third Global Biopharma Index, offering a comprehensive snapshot of the sector across 22 countries.
Every two years, Cytiva surveys 1250 biopharma executives across 22 countries and asks them to rate, on a scale of 0 to 10, the biopharma ecosystem across six pillars: supply chain resilience, talent pool, R&D ecosystem, manufacturing agility, government policy and regulation.
Sustainability is a new pillar in the 2025 survey.
The global average fell to 5.96, down from 6.08 in 2023 and 6.60 in 2021.
Switzerland, the United Kingdom and South Korea are the top three ranking countries in the 2025 Index. South Korea moved from twelfth place in 2023 to third.
This improvement reflects the investment in digital innovation, clinical trial capacity and its R&D output. Regulatory uncertainty and policy disruption moved the United States from second to fifth place.
Pierre-Alain Ruffieux, Chief Operating Officer, Cytiva, said: “As a leading global life sciences company, we must understand the challenges and opportunities our customers experience in every corner of the world."
"The Global Biopharma Index provides us with the insights needed to create the partnerships our customers need to bring the next generation of medicines to the clinic.”
Compared with 2023, economic strength is less predictive of biopharma resilience.
The 2025 data shows that some upper-middle-income countries are gaining ground, particularly if they focus investments on advanced manufacturing, regulatory reform and innovation incentives.
Michael May, President and CEO, Centre for Commercialisation of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM), said: “The world is shifting from globalisation to more regional perspectives, partly due to politics, economics and the diminished focus on COVID."
"But to bring sophisticated products to market, we need to be as collaborative as we’ve ever been.”
In-depth look: the six pillars of resilience
Supply chain resilience is improving, with 55% of executives stating they believe their country’s biopharma supply chains are more robust than 12 months ago.
However, more than a quarter surveyed say their supply chain is not equipped to support advanced modalities such as cell and gene therapies.
Seventy-six per cent predict that geopolitical volatility will significantly impact their sourcing strategies, while 56% agree that domestic manufacturing of biologics is set to increase dramatically during the next three years.
The talent pool has improved slightly, but continues to be a challenge for the biopharma industry.
Approximately one-third of executives report severe or critical shortages in key areas associated with advanced drug modalities, such as cell and gene therapies, mRNA and antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), sustainability, manufacturing, digital and AI skills.
The R&D ecosystem pillar is stronger than it was in 2023.
Countries that score highly on this pillar are more likely to bring therapies to market faster.
Collaboration is key to a strong R&D ecosystem and nearly half of respondents said it remains difficult to find high-quality partners, such as CROs/CDMOs, academic research institutions and government labs and think tanks.
Manufacturing agility is central to biopharma’s ability to respond to changing demand.
Data from this year shows that many firms cannot scale production quickly.
One in four executives surveyed said their organisation would be slow or very slow to ramp up manufacturing of hormone-based products, mRNA vaccines and cell and gene therapies.
Government policy and regulation is critical to the biopharma industry. However, the data shows that many executives are struggling with fragmented, unpredictable policy environments.
Fifty-one per cent say government policy is inconsistent and 50% say it is now harder to raise capital due to current market conditions.
Sustainability is a strategic priority across many industries, but almost half of biopharma executives report their company is failing to achieve its sustainability targets.
Nearly two-thirds say their company deprioritises sustainability due to short-term financial pressures and competing business priorities. Thirty-four per cent report talent shortages in sustainability roles.
Pierre-Alain Ruffieux said: "Continued evolution and collaboration, particularly between government agencies and industry partners, is essential to ensuring the biopharma industry can meet global demands."