Pharmaceutical excipients: Cycles

Why excipient demand is steady while feedstocks swing

What this tab covers How its prices and margins move: past booms and busts with price levels, the spread or margin that the industry watches, the drivers of the cycle and the metrics to track.

Excipient prices are not published. Cycles appear in feedstock costs (whey, pulp, maize) and in company results. Demand is steady because medicines are non-discretionary; destocking after COVID hit sales in 2023. Margins of branded makers are high and stable; commodity grades follow feedstock prices with a lag.

The spread to watch not published

No public spread measure.

Booms and busts

2021-2022
Energy, freight and feedstock inflation raised excipient prices; buyers stockpiled.
not published
2023
Pharma customers destocked excipients and packaging after pandemic build-up.
not published
2025
Roquette closed the IFF Pharma Solutions purchase (up to $2.85 billion); Sigachi MCC plant explosion in Telangana.
not published

What drives the cycle

Generic tablet volumes. Main volume driver.
Whey, pulp and maize prices. Feedstock pass-through for commodity grades.
Biologics growth. Raises demand for high-purity sugars and polysorbates.

Metrics to track

Metric	Why it matters	Where to track it
Roquette, Ashland, BASF Nutrition and Health results	industry demand	company reports
Excipient prices	direct	Pharmaoffer excipient listings