Market Overview
Cell and gene therapy CDMOs provide end-to-end support including process development, analytical testing, clinical and commercial manufacturing, and regulatory consulting for advanced therapy medicinal products. The market reached approximately $8.0 billion in 2025 and is on a steep growth trajectory, with projections extending well beyond $29 billion by the mid-2030s. This expansion reflects both the growing number of cell and gene therapy candidates in clinical development and the industry's reliance on third-party partners to navigate complex manufacturing challenges.
- •Market valued at ~$8.0 billion in 2025 with 24.5% annual growth
- •Services span process development, manufacturing, and regulatory support for ATMPs
- •Rising number of approved cell and gene therapies driving sustained demand
Growth Drivers
The outsized growth rate is primarily driven by the expanding biologics pipeline, where cell and gene therapies now represent one of the fastest-growing segments in pharmaceutical development. The personalized nature of many treatments, such as CAR-T cell therapies and gene editing platforms, requires highly specialized manufacturing infrastructure that most pharmaceutical companies prefer to outsource rather than build internally. Additionally, stringent regulatory requirements and the technical complexity of viral vector production and cell processing make CDMOs essential partners for bringing therapies to market efficiently.
- •Proliferating clinical-stage and approved cell and gene therapy products requiring scalable manufacturing
- •High capital costs and technical barriers for in-house viral vector and cell processing facilities
- •Regulatory pressure favoring specialized, validated manufacturing partners
Segmentation and Regional Analysis
The market is commonly segmented by phase of development, clinical-phase services versus commercial-scale manufacturing, with commercial manufacturing representing an increasingly large share as therapies gain approval. It is also categorized by product type, including cell therapy manufacturing and gene therapy manufacturing, each with distinct technical requirements around viral vectors, lentiviral production, and cell processing. Geographically, North America currently leads the market due to the concentration of biopharmaceutical companies and FDA-approved therapies, while Europe and the Asia-Pacific region are experiencing rapid capacity expansion and growing clinical trial activity.
- •Clinical vs. commercial phase segmentation with commercial manufacturing growing as therapies scale
- •Cell therapy and gene therapy segments with differing viral vector and cell processing needs
- •North America leads, followed by Europe and Asia-Pacific with fast-growing infrastructure investments
Trends and Outlook
What are the recent trends and outlook?
Looking forward, the market is expected to remain on its high-growth trajectory as cell and gene therapies move from boutique treatments to mainstream medicine, requiring ever-greater manufacturing capacity and technical sophistication. Key trends include increased automation and closed systems to improve scalability and reduce contamination risk, as well as growing adoption of allogeneic and off-the-shelf cell therapies that introduce new manufacturing economics. Capacity constraints in viral vector production continue to drive both CDMO investments in new facilities and strategic partnerships between sponsors and manufacturing partners.
- •Automation and closed processing systems gaining adoption to meet scale and compliance demands
- •Allogeneic cell therapies expected to reshape manufacturing requirements and volumes
- •Ongoing capacity expansion by CDMOs to address viral vector and lentiviral production bottlenecks
Get in touch and our analysts will be happy to help with custom market sizing, deeper segmentation, supplier detail or a bespoke study built for you.
Connect to an analyst →Market size and forecast are Claight Analysis, informed by public research and industry data. Historical years before 2025 and all forecast years are Claight estimates at the stated CAGR. Retrieved 2026.