Pharmaceutical Excipients Market

The global pharmaceutical excipients market is projected to reach USD 15.99 billion by 2031 from USD 11.95 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 6.0% from 2026 to 2031. The growth of the pharmaceutical excipients market is driven by increasing demand for pharmaceutical products & generics, rising adoption of novel excipients, a shift toward the development of more patient-centric formulations, and collaboration between excipient manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies to deliver customized excipients.

Some of the key players in the pharmaceutical excipients industry with a strong global footprint include Roquette Frères (France), Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) (US), Ashland Inc. (US), Evonik Industries AG (Germany), BASF SE (Germany), Kerry Group Plc (Ireland), Associated British Foods Plc (UK), and Wacker Chemie AG (Germany). Companies operating in this sector are employing various organic and inorganic growth strategies to strengthen their international presence and reinforce their market positions.

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For instance, in May 2025, Roquette announced the successful completion of its acquisition of IFF Pharma Solutions. As a result, Roquette strengthened its position as a key player in the health industry by integrating IFF Pharma Solutions’ expertise and innovative product portfolio of pharmaceutical excipients.

Additionally, market players like Gattefossé and BASF have pursued innovation by developing multifunctional, high-performance excipients. Meanwhile, other players such as Colorcon and DFE Pharma have focused on cost efficiency and scalability, catering to generic drug manufacturers with standardized, affordable excipients to maintain competitive pricing in high-volume markets.

Roquette Frères (France)

Roquette maintains a strong position in the pharmaceutical excipients market through its broad portfolio of plant-based excipients, polyols, starches, cellulose-based products, cyclodextrins, and dosage-form solutions. Its position strengthened materially in 2025 following the acquisition of IFF Pharma Solutions, which added major oral-excipient technologies and brands and expanded Roquette’s capabilities in cellulose, alginates, coatings, controlled release, and drug-delivery applications. The combination with Qualicaps also extends Roquette’s offering into capsules, making its Health & Pharma Solutions business considerably broader across excipients, capsules, APIs, and formulation technologies.

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) (US)

ADM has established a significant position in the pharmaceutical excipients market through a broad portfolio of high-purity vegetable oils, hydrogenated oils, carbohydrate ingredients, solvents, and functional formulation ingredients used in oral, topical, injectable, and parenteral applications. Its pharmaceutical offering includes highly purified olive, soybean, and sesame oils, propylene glycol, ethanol, citric acid, and other ingredients manufactured under strict quality and regulatory conditions. This breadth allows ADM to participate across conventional and specialty formulations, including soft gels, capsules, syrups, injectables, and parenteral nutrition.

BASF SE (Germany)

BASF holds a strong position in the pharmaceutical excipients market through its broad portfolio of functional polymers, povidones, copovidones, crospovidones, coating polymers, solubilizers, surfactants, waxes, and co-processed excipients. Key product families such as Kollidon, Kollicoat, Kolliphor, Kollisolv, Kolliwax, and Soluplus address formulation needs including binding, disintegration, coating, sustained release, taste masking, solubilization, and bioavailability enhancement.

BASF’s competitive positioning is supported by its focus on differentiated formulation technologies and regulatory-ready specialty excipients. Soluplus, for example, is designed for poorly soluble APIs and amorphous solid dispersions and gained European Pharmacopoeia recognition in 2025, strengthening its regulatory acceptance. BASF also supports customers through digital formulation tools such as ZoomLab, reinforcing its strategy of combining excipient supply with formulation-development support, technical expertise, and global manufacturing capabilities.

Market Ranking

The global pharmaceutical excipients market is highly competitive, with leading suppliers competing across conventional and specialty excipient categories such as fillers and diluents, binders, disintegrants, coating agents, solubilizers, lubricants, controlled-release polymers, and other formulation-enabling materials. Roquette, ADM, BASF, Evonik, and Ashland are among the leading players, supported by broad product portfolios, established global manufacturing networks, regulatory capabilities, and strong relationships with pharmaceutical manufacturers and CDMOs. Other important participants include DFE Pharma, Colorcon, Croda, Gattefossé, Shin-Etsu Chemical, JRS Pharma, Merck, and Wacker, which compete through specialized product portfolios and formulation expertise.

These companies compete primarily through product functionality, consistency, regulatory compliance, technical support, supply reliability, and portfolio breadth, rather than only on price. Leading suppliers are increasingly investing in higher-value areas such as solubility and bioavailability enhancement, modified release, high-purity parenteral excipients, co-processed excipients, advanced coatings, and oral peptide delivery. Competitive differentiation also depends on the ability to provide strong documentation, global pharmacopeial compliance, application-development support, and secure multi-regional supply. As formulation complexity increases, market positioning is expected to favor suppliers that can combine scale with differentiated technologies and deeper participation in advanced drug-delivery applications.

Related Reports:

Pharmaceutical Excipients Market by Product (Organic [Oleochemicals, Cellulose, Glycols], Inorganic), Functionality (Fillers & Diluents, Binders, Lubricants), Formulation (Oral, Parenteral), Functionality Application (Stabilizers)-Global Forecast to 2031

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