Expansions and Strategies Showcased and Gained at CPHI Milan 2026

CPHI Milan 2026, held October 6-8, 2026, brought together drug manufacturers, biotech companies, regulators, consultants, and suppliers at a time of supply chain pressure, rapid digitalization, and growing demand for complex modalities.¹ News from the show floor reflected common themes, with contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) adding capacity and equipment makers leaning on automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and magnetic transport.

Organizer Informa Markets added several new elements for 2026. A 2-day CPHI Sustainability Summit, held ahead of the main event, gathered more than 300 sustainability leaders, pharma executives, and supply chain stakeholders for more than 20 interactive sessions and more than 10 roundtables and working groups on sustainable manufacturing, supply chain decarbonization, packaging innovation, green chemistry, and regulatory expectations.¹

The show floor gained 4 new zones: an AI and Tech Zone; a Cold Chain & Logistics Zone for temperature-sensitive biologics; a Labeling Zone focused on compliance, traceability, and anticounterfeiting; and a Contamination Control Zone run in partnership with the International Confederation of Contamination Control Societies.¹

The invitation-only Leadership Summit returned for its second year on the opening day. The closed-room session for C-suite leaders, senior vice presidents, and founders addressed strategic industry transformation; supply chain resilience amid resource nationalism and geopolitical fragmentation; what a more coordinated European approach to medicine security means for companies; and the infrastructure needed to keep manufacturing capacity aligned with scientific innovation.²

CPHI Pharma Awards

The 2026 CPHI Pharma Awards recognized work spanning digital labs, nucleic acid manufacturing, and patient access.³ Evonik won Digital Transformation for its Self Driving Labs; Anemocyte took Manufacturing Excellence for AMCAP enzymatic mRNA manufacturing; and Touchlight earned the Innovation Catalyst award for its cell-free Doggybone DNA (dbDNA) platform. SeraNovo (Finished Formulation) was honored for its NanoGlass platform, MODAG (API Development) for its neurodegeneration platform, and ForgeStop (Drug Delivery, Devices & Packaging Innovation) for secure connected packaging developed with EM Microelectronic. Almac Clinical Services won Supply Chain Excellence for ultrarare gene therapy supply work; Aurigene Pharmaceutical Services won True Partnership Excellence for its zoliflodacin partnership; and AstraZeneca and Celtic Renewables took the 2 sustainability categories. Primogene won the Start-Up Initiative award.³

Individual honors went to Anil Okay of Adalvo (CEO of the Year), Emma Charles of Bristol Myers Squibb (Woman of the Year), and Pauline van der Wijst-Janssen of DFE Pharma (Future Leader).³

CDMOs Expand Capacity and Speed

Thermo Fisher Scientific introduced OSD Express to make oral solid dosage development more predictable, along with Steriles Express Solutions, which can deliver phase 1 or 2 clinical material in 20 weeks, and a tech transfer offering that can produce a phase 3 good manufacturing practice (GMP) batch in as few as 26 weeks.⁴ The company also highlighted new sterile lines in Plainville, Massachusetts, and in Monza and Ferentino, Italy; a 52,000-ft² clinical label expansion in Bohemia, New York; and a new facility in Tokyo expected to roughly double its storage and distribution capacity in Japan. Generative AI in its PPD clinical research business has cut master informed consent form drafting time by 50% in aggregate.⁴

Shilpa Medicare launched Shilpa CDMO, a dedicated complex small-molecule brand focused on high-potency APIs, peptides, antibody-drug conjugate payloads and linkers, PROTACs, and oligonucleotides.⁵ The platform includes 230 kL of reactor capacity, 3 R&D centers, and more than 400 scientists, with sister company Shilpa Biologicals located within 200 miles to handle antibody production, conjugation, and fill-finish.⁵

Shilpa Biologicals, meanwhile, launched SB HiMax, a gene-to-GMP platform targeting clinical supply in 9 months for monoclonal antibodies and 11 months for bispecific and trispecific antibodies, with titers typically above 5 g/L at up to 2000-L scale.⁶

Equipment, Packaging, and Materials

IMA Group showcased its TILE-X fill-finish line, which uses magnetic levitation to handle ready-to-use components without generating particulates and targets biopharmaceuticals and advanced therapies. IMA also showed a vaporized hydrogen peroxide BioIndicator with 6-log sporicidal performance and its X PEN Series for pen and autoinjector assembly at 40–160 units per minute.⁷

Steriline launched the VKSFCM11 robotic sterile filling line for small batches and cell and gene therapies, featuring an AI-based OmniAI Vision inspection system.⁶ Systech introduced the ST16P and ST15S serialization and aggregation stations running on its UniSeries software, and Roquette presented an end-to-end portfolio of excipients and drug delivery solutions for patient-centric formulation and bioprocessing.⁶

References

1. CPHI Milan unveils 2026 conference programme with 260+ industry experts and new Sustainability Summit. Press release. CPHI. August 10, 2026.
2. Haigney S. CPHI Milan brings back leadership summit as supply chain and manufacturing pressures ramp up. PharmTech. Sept. 21, 2026. https://www.pharmtech.com/view/cphi-milan-brings-back-leadership-summit-as-supply-chain-and-manufacturing-pressures-ramp-up
3. CPHI Pharma Awards 2026 winners announced in Milan. Press release. October 6, 2026.
4. Thermo Fisher Scientific showcases new solutions and expanded capabilities to accelerate drug development at CPHI Milan 2026. Press release. Thermo Fisher Scientific. October 6, 2026.
5. Complex-molecule specialist Shilpa CDMO launches at CPHI Milan. Press release. Shilpa CDMO. September 9, 2026.
6. Haigney S. Companies launching equipment and services at CPHI Milan 2026. PharmTech. Sept. 30, 2026. https://www.pharmtech.com/view/companies-launching-equipment-and-services-at-cphi-milan-2026
7. IMA PHARMA and IMA MED-TECH at CPHI Milan 2026. Press release. IMA Group. Email sent September 9, 2026.