Matt Cokely, global technical consultant and strategic director, Ecolab, looks at last year’s pharmaceutical manufacturing trends and shares his predictions for the year ahead.
What trends defined pharmaceutical manufacturing in 2025?
Ecolab
At Ecolab Life Sciences one of the trends, we have seen building, and really taking off in 2025 is a strategic shift toward Grade C and D cleanrooms. Regulatory guidance encourages use of appropriate technologies to increase the protection of the product from potential extraneous contamination, and the use of RABS or isolators considered in the CCS. Any alternative approaches must be clearly justified.
This means that closed isolator systems which maintain Grade A conditions internally are preferentially selected and operated in a Grade C or D environment. As well as the increased assurance achieved, this arrangement can deliver substantial cost savings compared to maintaining and operating a traditional Grade B cleanroom. This flexibility has also proved transformative: modular designs of isolators have reduced installation and qualification times from months to weeks while improving overall working conditions for operators. The ability to right-size cleanroom infrastructure to actual process risk became a competitive advantage, enabling manufacturers to respond in a more agile way to advanced therapies and personalised medicine demands without compromising product quality or regulatory compliance.
What key trends are defining pharmaceutical manufacturing in 2026?
We are now also seeing manufacturers recognise that cleanroom performance isn't just about classification. It's about creating environments where operators can work safely and efficiently.
For years, the industry has accepted significant operational downsides with sporicidal disinfection: harsh chemicals with strong odours, potentially corrosive formulations that can degrade materials and equipment, and lengthy contact times.
There's now a clear demand for contamination control solutions that don't compromise operator experience or cause delays to production schedules. This shift represents a maturation of pharmaceutical manufacturing, acknowledging that improved working conditions and faster turnarounds aren't luxuries, they're essential to meeting the pace and scale that modern medicine requires.