Drug Delivery M&A Gains Pace Around U.S. Manufacturing

LTS’s acquisition of Renaissance Lakewood underscores rising demand for U.S.-based nasal and sterile manufacturing capacity

20 Jan 2026

A quiet shift is under way in drug delivery. For years the industry fretted most about molecules and markets. Now it worries just as much about factories. Securing manufacturing capacity, once a back-office concern, is becoming central to development strategy.

That helps explain LTS’s purchase of Renaissance Lakewood, agreed in October 2025 and completed a month later. Renaissance Lakewood is a small but valuable American manufacturer, specialising in nasal sprays and sterile drugs. Its appeal lies less in scale than in certainty. For drugmakers pushing patient-friendly formats, especially nasal delivery, dependable capacity close to the American market has become a prize.

LTS framed the deal as an expansion of its global contract development and manufacturing business, extending support from early development to commercial supply. That language reflects current pressures. Development timelines are tight. Regulatory expectations are unforgiving. A missed delivery can delay a launch or sink a programme. Fewer hand-offs between suppliers can reduce such risks, particularly when products move from clinical trials to full production.

The transaction also fits a broader pattern. Assets that remove friction from drug production are in demand. American plants with established sterile and nasal capabilities are hard to build and harder still to validate. Experienced staff and quality systems that satisfy regulators add further value. Starting from scratch can take years; buying an existing operation is faster, even if it costs more upfront.

That does not mean acquisitions are painless. Integrating operations, cultures and quality processes can stretch management and distract staff. Drug sponsors will watch carefully to see whether service levels hold during the transition. As specialised capacity becomes concentrated in fewer hands, pricing power may shift as well.

In the longer run the effects could be benign. More robust manufacturing networks should make supply more reliable. They may also speed the spread of delivery formats that keep patients out of clinics and make treatment easier to manage at home.

Deals like this suggest that drugmakers are rethinking not just what they develop, but where and how it is made. In manufacturing, as in science, execution now matters as much as invention.