Inside Biopharma’s Supply Chain Shift: A Q&A With Franco Stevanato

As trade policy, geopolitical risk, and supply chain resilience move to the forefront of pharmaceutical strategy, manufacturers across the industry are reassessing where their products—and the critical components that protect them—are made.

In this exclusive Q&A, Franco Stevanato, CEO of Stevanato Group, shares his perspective on how tariffs and shifting global dynamics are influencing pharmaceutical manufacturing decisions.^1,2 Because of the complexity and regulatory scrutiny involved, changing supply chains in this sector isn’t quick or simple.

Access all four parts of our four-part video interview series with Stevanato:

1. Tariffs Nudge Pharma Toward Localization, but Supply Chains Can’t Shift Overnight
2. Why US-Based Manufacturing Is Becoming a Strategic Imperative for Biopharma
3. Managing Tariff-Driven Cost Increases Without Disrupting Customers
4. Pharma’s US Manufacturing Push Faces a Long Investment Horizon

PC: What role are tariff policies playing in accelerating the shift toward local production and supply chain localization within the pharma industry?

Stevanato: Tariffs will generate some temporary headwinds for Stevanato because for sure we have put some surcharge to our clients; by the way, they are accepted. We’ll change the income tax. But anyhow, in the short term, we are not able to readdress our supply chain. Just to give you some information, Nico, we have 13 sites in nine different countries, but usually, we try to supply region by region.

This is not valid for all the products because we’re still producing some products in Europe. We are ramping up capacity in Fishers, but this will require another couple of years. Temporarily, we have some headwinds, but in the meantime, this will represent additional opportunities, because we have already have this big campus and some clients in the medium term, we're talking about three to four years.

It's difficult for that to really change rapidly, because it's the timing on the pharma company. We start to see clients that invest in footprint strategy. They're raising the attention to invest more in the United States, and this—in the middle term—is going to be a good boost for Stevanato Group.

Beyond tariff mitigation, what strategic advantages does expanding production within the US offer for biopharma clients?

Beside the tariff, the pharma companies want to always have a strategic partner, because we say that we sell critical containment solution, because our product is entering contact with the drugs. So this is going to require to have validation filings with the FDA. The stability of the drugs is a very complex, expensive process—because we are filing with the FDA, the pharma customer automatically wants to secure the supply chain. They want always at least two sites.

Now, they want two sides for certain critical molecules, particularly for certain blockbusters that are also in two different regions. This is why, already in 2021, we decided to build these Greenfield plants. Now, the fact that we have this big campus in the United States with the possibility to accelerate will make Stevanato even more attractive compared to certain competitors, to sign future additional potential contracts.

This is what we see, starting from many clients. They are changing their supply chain. They are reshoring a little bit—for some biosimilars, they usually use a supplier in the Far East. They're starting to build the supply chain in United States. These are all positive signals that will help enhance Stevanato eventually further boost our business plan in the medium term.

In the near term, how are industry leaders balancing increased costs from tariffs with pricing strategies and operational efficiencies to remain competitive in the US market?

In terms of the type of business-to-business relationship that we have with our clients, usually, their priorities consist of securing the supply chain and the quality of the product, because we are delivering several hundred millions of product, and for them, the cost of the primary package in the full cost of the drugs is really minor. We are talking about what can be maybe sometimes, 10 to 100 times higher than the cost of the molecules, and certain syringes are storing a few thousand dollars per injection, looking at the biologics.

For them, prices are not the main concern. In fact, usually in our five-year contract with our customers, pricing adjustment is already regulated. It’s usually linked to inflation, to labor cost, and energy. Even if there is an extraordinary event, there is an automatic adjustment.

We had the spike on gas in Europe a few years ago, and we passed to increase the price during the year. I'm sorry to take a long answer, to say, we call the customer, we explain the situation. They understand perfectly. We pass some surcharge, or sometimes we change the income terms. We don't see impact on this, and I see clients open to settle the increase.

Do you view the current trend toward US-based manufacturing as a short-term response to trade policy shifts, or as part of a lasting reconfiguration of global pharma supply chains?

It’s a really important question, but also difficult to answer today. I’ll try to answer with my angle of experience. When clients decide to put investments, no matter if you speed up, it is three to five years.

Deciding to do a plant, to purchase the line, install the line, to the validation—we talk about three to five years. Today, if you do the picture, the official statement that few hundred billions of investment for CapEx are readdressing United States, then what will happen, what it will be direction of Far East, because there is several 10s of biosimilars in the Far East that may be taking benefit of this.

It's difficult for me, Nico, to understand what will happen after five years. Today, we see clients very focused on investing in the United States or using suppliers, including CMOs, in the United States. But again, we always have to consider for pharma companies, it’s not that you can change, you can drive it in three months. It takes three to five years.

What will happen in three to five years is really difficult to predict, because our big clients, they have the tendency to be global. And we know that there are billions of clients all around the globe, and this is another big element to think about.

References

1. Cole C. The year of the tariff: pharmaceutical supply chain reimagined in 2025. Pharmaceutical Technology. Published December 27, 2025. https://www.pharmtech.com/view/the-year-of-the-tariff-pharmaceutical-supply-chain-reimagined-in-2025
2. FDA Launches PreCheck Pilot Program to Strengthen Domestic Pharmaceutical Manufacturing. US Food & Drug Administration. February 1, 2026. Accessed February 10, 2026. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-launches-precheck-pilot-program-strengthen-domestic-pharmaceutical-manufacturing