---

Best API & Excipients Supplier

Headquarters: Ludwigshafen, Germany

This was a hotly fought category, reflecting the number of quality suppliers in the sector, but BASF emerged as our winner for 2025 (after also taking the crown in this category in 2023). Founded in 1865 in Mannheim, Germany, the company was originally called Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik. One of the company’s most famous innovations is PVP, which was first used in the textile industry, but gained use in medicinal applications in the 1940s as a synthetic blood plasma substitute.

BASF has since turned into a global leader across multiple industries, and is well known in pharma for its wide range of APIs and raw materials, as well as excipients for parenterals, orals, topicals, and biopharmaceuticals. The company also offers quality, regulatory, and digital services, including its virtual pharma assistants.

In 2024, the company launched the Kolliphor P188 Cell Culture – a poloxamer with a lower than average molecular weight designed to offer shear protection. The company has also introduced Kollipro Urea Granules, which can help enhance flowability, minimize agglomeration, and reduce preparation and handling time in downstream processing. 

Honorable mention: DuPont

For the full list of winners, click here.