Excipients (fillers, binders), empty capsules, blister films and pharma glass (vials, ampoules, cartridges) - the non-active inputs in every finished dose.
Supplies the inactive materials and primary packaging every finished dose needs: excipients like microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) that make up most of a tablet's weight, empty hard capsules, blister films and foils, and Type-I borosilicate glass vials, ampoules and cartridges for injectables.
These inputs are small in cost but impossible to skip: a formulation is registered with a specific excipient and container, so switching suppliers needs regulatory change filings. That makes qualified suppliers sticky - and makes injectable and GLP-1 growth a direct pull on pharma-glass capacity.
Mid-teens to 20%+ EBITDA margins for qualified specialists. Volumes track global formulation output; pricing is helped by long qualification cycles but pressured by Chinese and European competitors in commodity grades.