The global drug delivery and packaging industry arrives in Paris next month – for Pharmapack Europe 2025 – as Île-de-France is selected by international pharma companies as the second-best location in Europe for drug manufacturing and packaging.
The results of the Pharmapack research are a further boost to industry prospects, with more 7000 global attendees expected at the event, and reflects improving fortunes for healthtech innovation in France. Earlier this year, France Biotech revealed that start-ups numbers (including biotechs, medtechs, and digital health) doubled in just four years to 2600 and the region now rivals Lombardy as Europe’s pre-eminent manufacturing hub.
Adding further weight to this change, global executives 3 in the Pharmapack Research selected Paris as the number two location to launch a new biotech, behind only the UK’s ‘golden triangle’ [London, Oxford, Cambridge].
Stéphane Guisado of Pharmatis, a CDMO specialising in single-dose conditioning of liquids, semi-liquids, sachets, and ampules, based in Estrées-Saint-Denis, commented: “These results are a welcome acknowledgment of the quality of French pharma manufacturing, both at our company and others across the region. We are now serving an increasingly global client base, but what is equally exciting for the Paris region is that there is a real hotbed of innovation developing here. We also have an expanding base of local customers like Biocodex, Laboratoires Grimberg, and Substipharm."
"Collectively, we are developing a globally significant ecosystem for the advancement of pharmaceuticals, and we expect the region to perform extremely well over the next few years.”
The news is particularly timely as companies from 70+ countries visit the Paris Expo next month, with contract packaging and contract dose delivery identified as key growth areas for France. Significantly, the Île-de-France region is already a major manufacturing hub and home to international heavyweights such as Delpharm and Fareva.
Commenting on the findings, Sherma Ellis-Daal, brand director at Pharmapack Europe said: “We have chosen to host our event in Paris for over a decade because of the country’s pedigree in drug devices and delivery, but in the last few years, we have seen a big shift. There is now added interest from contract packaging companies and start-ups across France are also booming."
"Significantly, our data shows that the Paris region is now among the most attractive globally."
"I would encourage device, packaging and start-up companies across the region to visit the event. After all, it’s the only two days this year when global pharma and investors will be in the region in such large numbers. So, it’s a massive opportunity for French start-ups and contact services companies to meet with potential international partners.”
Pharmapack Europe will feature more than 400 global exhibitors from across packaging, medical device and delivery, R&D and contract services. In light of the new research, the event will also support networking between attendees for the first time. This is particularly significant for France-based biotechs and contract manufacturers who can now potentially accelerate international partnering.
The research authors however, identified one significant area for improvement that, if achieved, could see the Île-de-France region competing globally with the innovative output of the United States. Although the region benefits from major players in manufacturing and has seen solid funding – both public and private – for early-stage start-ups, it is yet to fill the translation gap to large-scale deployment. A potential solution is to encourage inbound investment and global partnering and licensing. This will enable France’s entrepreneurs to bridge this gap through the acquired global expertise of the drug packaging and delivery community.
"Bridging the gap between early innovation and scale-up will further accelerate France’s growing role in medtech and pharma innovation.
Ellias-Daal added, "It’s a challenge we see globally at our events, what you need is an ecosystem of partners and to open-up to international partnering. Your best partner might not be domestic but based in the UK, Germany or the USA, perhaps even China. This is, of course, what Pharmapack is here to deliver, to bring the very heart of drug delivery and packaging pioneers to Paris.”