Global biopharma industry index falls to 5.96 in 2025

Switzerland led the rankings with 6.99, ahead of the UK (6.66) and South Korea (6.49).

The global biopharma industry’s overall performance has declined to 5.96 in 2025, according to Cytiva’s 2025 Global Biopharma Index.

The average score fell from 6.08 in 2023 and 6.60 in 2021.

The index is based on a survey of 1,250 biopharma executives across 22 countries, who rate their country’s ecosystem on six areas: supply chain resilience, talent pool, R&D ecosystem, manufacturing agility, and government policy and regulation.

Sustainability was added as a new category in the 2025 survey.

Switzerland topped the 2025 rankings with a score of 6.99, followed by the United Kingdom at 6.66 and South Korea at 6.49.

More than half of executives (55%) said their country’s biopharma supply chains are stronger than a year ago, but over a quarter said their supply chains are not prepared to support advanced modalities such as cell and gene therapies.

Most respondents (76%) expect geopolitical instability to affect sourcing strategies, whilst 56% predict a sharp rise in domestic biologics manufacturing within the next three years.

Talent shortages remain a major challenge despite a slight improvement. About one-third of executives reported severe or critical gaps in areas linked to advanced drug development, including cell and gene therapies, mRNA, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), digital and AI skills, manufacturing, and sustainability.

The R&D ecosystem has strengthened compared with 2023, and countries that score well in this area tend to bring therapies to market faster.

Still, collaboration remains a constraint, with nearly half of respondents saying it is difficult to find reliable partners such as CROs, CDMOs, universities, or public research institutions.

Many firms cannot scale production quickly when demand shifts. One in four executives said their organisation would be slow or very slow to ramp up manufacturing for products like mRNA vaccines, hormone-based drugs, and cell and gene therapies.

Government policy and regulation continue to pose challenges. More than half of executives (51%) described policy environments as inconsistent, and 50% said current market conditions have made it harder to raise capital.

Although sustainability is gaining attention across the industry, nearly half of executives said their companies are failing to meet their sustainability targets.

Almost two-thirds said sustainability efforts are often sidelined due to short-term financial pressures, and 34% reported talent shortages in sustainability roles.