Specialty medications and BPO Market Insights 2026

Chapter headingChapter subheadingSpecialty medication demand is exposing vulnerabilities across pharma supply chains. Learn four ways a BPO workforce model helps warehouse and distribution operations scale, stay compliant, and deliver outcomes.Contents

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_{Specialty medications and BPO: solving the workforce challenges of warehouse and distribution.}

By: Juan Luevano, Vice President, Solution Design and Process Excellence, Kelly

The most effective new drug has little value if it doesn’t reach the patient. That’s why the operational challenges facing warehouse and distribution teams matter more than ever today.

One of the biggest current challenges is the growing demand for specialty medications, such as GLP-1s. J.P. Morgan Global Research projects that approximately 25 million Americans will be on GLP-1 therapies by 2030, a massive increase from the roughly 10 million patients in 2025.

The rapid increase in market demand has exposed vulnerabilities across pharmaceutical supply chains, creating backlogs and shipping delays. Warehouse and distribution operations — already under pressure to scale quickly — are struggling to keep pace with volume spikes, while maintaining compliance and delivery standards.

Facing these complex and highly variable conditions, many organizations now choose to outsource critical but non-core business functions to a business process outsourcing (BPO) provider. BPO is a custom workforce solution designed to achieve specific, client-defined outcomes.

Unlike traditional staffing, which simply provides workers for a client to manage, BPO takes end-to-end ownership of workflows and results. Providers
integrate with the client’s infrastructure to improve efficiency, scalability, and workforce performance.

Why healthcare operations leaders choose BPO: four reasons that matter.

Stay ahead of supply chain disruptions.

Solve the workforce bottleneck.

Scale faster and more efficiently during demand shifts.

Shift from managing resources to
delivering outcomes.

Stay ahead of supply chain disruptions.

Large biopharma companies plan to invest more than $350 billion in new U.S. capacity by 2030. In 2025, seven top companies unveiled cost-optimization strategies, aiming to cut costs by 5-16% and reduce the workforce by 2-8%.

Life sciences manufacturers face challenges from rising costs, supply chain disruptions, and shifting regulations — prompting companies to nearshore or reshore supply sources to the U.S. This shift increases talent demand and introduces operational uncertainty. BPO can help mitigate these concerns by taking ownership of non-core functions, reducing compliance risks, and maintaining high performance and quality outcomes at optimal cost.

Solve the workforce bottleneck.

In 2024, 51.3% of biopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in the U.S. identified the "inability to hire and retain technical staff" as the primary factor limiting production capacity through 2026. A 2026 finding reinforces that view: “Outsourcing has hit record levels for all bioprocess platforms, with 82.6% of cell and gene therapy (CGT) companies now outsourcing at least some biologics manufacturing.”

Both figures point to a continuing trend: production challenges driven by limited access to skilled workers. These challenges increase the risk of production shortfalls, so companies turn to BPO for the operational support and skilled talent to keep production reliable and consistent.

Scale faster and more efficiently during demand shifts.

Many organizations use BPO to offload non-core production activities to a provider that can supply skilled workers, apply proven processes, and manage delivery reliably and cost-effectively.

By removing this burden, BPO enables rapid ramp-up and draw-down without the time, expense, and disruption of expanding or shrinking the internal workforce. This agility allows organizations to stay focused on core operations.

Shift from managing resources to delivering outcomes.

Our experience shows organizations benefit when responsibility for outcomes is placed with an external provider that has proven industry expertise. Staffing and recruiting still play an important function, especially for specialized, hard-to-fill roles that differentiate the organization. However, for non-core operations, shifting ownership of processes and outcomes to a BPO provider is often more reliable than simply adding more staff.

Flexing forward: Build resilience in your operations.

BPO is effective, but not all providers have what it takes for the specialized demands of pharma manufacturing and care. Look for a partner that brings deep industry expertise along with specialized experience in contact center and manufacturing environments.

The right partner brings the skills, flexibility, and engaged workforce needed to navigate challenges and scale efficiently. BPO delivers resilience and reliability in an industry defined by constant change, helping ensure your business stays on course.

Kelly^® offers a wide range of solutions for the life sciences sector, including BPO for patient contact support centers.

Explore how BPO workforce solutions from Kelly can work for your operations.

Learn more