DCAT Week 2025: Challenges of Expanding Market Demand

The pharmaceutical industry is expanding in a variety of areas, with an increased interest in domestic manufacturing in the United States, according to Hamilton Lenox, chief commercial officer at LGM Pharma. Pharmaceutical Technology® spoke with Lenox ahead of DCAT Week 2025, which is being held from March 17–20 in New York City, to discuss how market demand is impacting the industry and creating challenges for the supply chain.

“[One area] where we have continued to see focus and increased demand is more complex formulations in general … we're seeing increased needs in more niche service offerings," Lenox says. “Particularly, where we've seen a lot of growth recently [is] in our suppository demand, which is not traditionally the dosage form for North America for a lot of products. But in the past three years, we have seen increasing demand in the suppository space, some of that has been driven by women's health products, particularly post-COVID.”

Lenox points specifically to the challenge of drug shortages, which he says are increasing in length and add to market demand. “Historically, drug shortages, if you look at FDA data, have lasted anywhere from three to six months,” Lenox says. “In the COVID and post-COVID world, we're not only seeing an increasing amount of drug shortages, but those drug shortages are lasting longer, anywhere from six to 18 months, based on current FDA data as well. So, meeting that demand and ensuring reliable supply to avoid drug shortages [is a challenge].”

Click the above video to watch the interview.