Why Is Biopharma Left Out Of The U.S. Infrastructure Conversation?

By Louis Garguilo, Chief Editor, Outsourced Pharma

Gigantic investment manager BlackRock recently gathered powerful investors to discuss along with government officials the nation’s physical and economic backbone.

The conversation targeting infrastructure was expansive, but from our vantage point, incomplete.

According to programming and sources for the 2026 BlackRock Infrastructure Summit,  held in Washington, D.C., discussion of a specific industry's needs, such as biopharma manufacturing, was conspicuous by its absence.

The summit dove into areas you’d imagine with such a setting and theme: energy (of all kinds); artificial intelligence hardware (chips and data centers); transportation; workforce development.

Yet it appears little discussion got into industry specifics like drug supply chains, not even in terms of domestic vs. global supply imbalances.

At a time when policymakers, industry leaders, and the public have been focused on drug security – and when biopharma has lived through acute global stress tests (i.e., COVID and tariffs) – that omission deserves examination.

Not All Infrastructure

To be fair, the summit’s priorities were spot on. Participants focused on the pressing need to invest in and build out crucial infrastructure (generally) to underpin (overall) economic growth and national security.

Energy availability – particularly electricity generation and grid capacity – was front and center. The explosive demand from AI-driven data centers is already reshaping capital allocation, and questioning how quickly capacities (in any industry) can come online.

Workforce shortages appear to have been a recurring theme. The accepted reality is the U.S. lacks an adequate supply of skilled tradespeople (e.g., electricians, welders, HVAC specialists).

It seems there was clear consensus that private capital and non-government entities must play a defining role in financing and shaping the next generation of infrastructure.

Biopharmaceutical manufacturing fits within those discussions.

We are energy-intensive; dependent on highly specialized (and regulated) facilities, requiring skilled tradespeople to construct, and skilled labor to operate and maintain. We are central to national security, and a component of economic resilience.

How could our industry's infrastructure needs not be top of mind?

Dealing With Perceptions

One part of the answer may be historical.

The drug industry has been viewed as a higher margin, deep-pocketed (although cyclical due to patent limitations) industry. Big Pharma has revenues to plow into needed facility and supply-chain development and logistics.

True, Big Pharma does to a large degree self-fund its own infrastructure. However, like any other industry, it also depends on the wider ecosystem of utilities, transportation, etc.

Another perception is that biotech is less dependent on physical infrastructure than is other industries. Specifically, investors know – and often discourage – biotechs from building out much of any infrastructure.

At the same time, it's inaccurate to think, for example, that biologics/ cell-and-gene-therapy production – even small molecule facilities – don’t require complex and costly infrastructure and facilities.

And facility build-outs, as we know, are mostly undertaken by contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs). 

These independent and external manufacturers are (a) often private equity-backed, depend on external debt and equity markets and investor returns, and (b) reliant on national, regional, and local infrastructure. 

Understandably, this line of progression may have been beyond the (broader) scope of the BlackRock summit, so we'll say it here:

Biopharma's external manufacturers should be recognized as a core component when considering U.S. infrastructure needs, the health of our country, and national security.

Competing For (Ample) Capital

What the summit amplified indirectly is how hard U.S.-based biopharma must compete for financial resources.

As I’ve suggested previously, there is an abundance of investor dollars to be deployed. This is not a beggar-thy-neighbor thesis. It is a competition for attention from and deal-making with our investor class and policymakers.

There are complications. Let’s acknowledge “biotech” in its various iterations still represents a precarious investment with extended potential ROI timeframes.

However, think through how circumstances might be altered if we establish a more muscular biotech infrastructure concentrating on CDMOs. 

This may be a bit nebulous, I understand. But partly underway. Not a few CDMOs have recently announced major, breakthrough investments in U.S.-located facilities.

Today our external partners offer services that gain recurring revenues and could see rising margins (due in part to the macro-infrastructure being discussed at the BlackRock Summit).

A more global CDMO strategy offers reduced investment risk. CDMOs serve multiple and various clients, and can offer exposure to offshore locations and capacities as well. 

If the infrastructure (as well as other factors) are there, they will come and they will build. Biotechs (and Pharma) will be better served. 

So how can we catalyze increased investor attention and understanding of the centrality of CDMOs within the broader U.S. infrastructure  discussion?

One way is to continue to point out closely integrated sponsor-provider partnerships and relationships. Perhaps we can bring the two sides even closer together in an overall investor strategy.

For years now, investors have looked at CDMOs as a diversified play on the pharma sector – decoupled from individual molecule risk. More opportunities have arisen even as (or in some cases because) the industry has consolidated and evolved.

We need to direct attention to the fact drug manufacturers are dependent on the electric grid, bountiful water, skilled workers, all forms of transportation, the AI build out, and also a contributing component to all that infrastructure.

Today we need more domestic biomanufacturing facilities, cleanrooms, cold storage. Continuous and redundant operations require reliable, high-quality energy supplies. We need all modes of transportation for accelerated delivery of materials and products.

We need our domestic (and global) drug supply to be safe and sound.

Will we be prioritized when investors and policymakers consider, for example, a national energy-grid build out? Who will get access to the expanding capacity?

The biopharma industry including CDMOs are in a competition for investments and infrastructure. Let's grab a seat at the next summit.