Asia-Pacific is increasingly becoming an active hub for the pharmaceuticals industry worldover. The reasons for the global majors to turn the spot light onto this region are several.
While, high-end but low-cost technologies and enormously skilled man power - that too at a cost far lower than the Western standards - continue to remain the pillars of strength, the fast emerging Asian markets including China and India offer tremendous scope for the transnational investors.
The transformation of these markets are even more dramatic. These industry environs once considered risky terrains with respect to protecting intellectual property rights are rapidly evolving to more and more IPR-friendly. Traditional barriers which posed hurdles for smooth multilateral trades are fast fading.
No wonder if Asia-Pacific is today's most sought-after source point for offshoring technologies and services. A market that can offer unimaginably cost-effective solutions to almost everything in the drug development value chain can be nothing less than a centre of great attraction for drug firms which are perennially under strain to cut costs.
One of the biggest trade events in the region, Interphex Asia, achieves a greater importance, against this backdrop. To be held at Suntec, Singapore from 27th to 29th of June, Interphex Asia is dedicated to pharmaceutical manufactures in the Asia- Pacific.
The 3-day expo along with 6th ISPE Singapore Conference is expected to deliver industry professionals from Automation and IT, Compliance, Facilities/Plant Management, Laboratory Management, Packaging Engineering, Process Engineering, Procurement, Production, Project Management, QA/QC, R&D, Regulatory Affairs, Validation, Warehousing & Logistics.
A whole host of international and regional suppliers of pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment, services and products covering the entire spectrum of Analytical Equipment & Services, Laboratory Instrumentation & Equipment, Biopharmaceutical /Biotechnology, Packaging Machinery / Materials, Bioinformatics, Plant Engineering/ Maintenance, Cleanroom Equipment & Services, Processing Machinery / Equipment, Contract Manufacturing /Services, Environmental/Hazardous Materials, Raw Materials & Ingredients, Instruments and Controls, IT/Process Systems/Controls and Automation, Validation Support, Labelling, Coding and Marking, Warehousing/ Distribution/ Logistics, etc will come together under one roof, exchange ideas, exhibit innovations and explore strategies in Interphex Asia 2006.
RFID, PharmaSourcing (Outsourcing/Contract Manufacturing) and Facilities Pavilions are added attractions.
Also, the ISPE/RBI Facility of the Year 2006 finalists and winner(s) will also be showcased. The Facility of the Year Award, by ISPE, Interphex and Pharmaceutical Processing magazine, is to recognize state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing projects that utilize new and innovative technologies to enhance the delivery of a quality project, as well as to reduce the costs of producing high-quality medicines.
The conference programmes will feature biotech, API and secondary manufacturing issues in 9 tracks. There will 4 workshops, altogether. Singapore students' poster competition is another highlight of Interphex Asia 2006. 6 NUS undergraduate on Life Sciences will present research topics on Physiological Modeling and Control of Blood Glucose in Diabetics, Amino Acid-Grafted PHBV Copolymer Microspheres for Liver Tissue Engineering,Expression of Adhesion Molecules on Endothelial Cells with Exposure to Gold Nanoparticles,Synthesis and Properties of Drug Delivery Carrier using a Novel Vitamin-PEG Surfactant, Improved Formulation for Codon Usage Optimization and Microbial Fermentation for the Production of the Enzyme Transglutaminase.
Last time, Interphex Asia attracted some 2,200 pharmaceutical manufacturing professionals and industry regulators from 31 countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Australia and the United States, according to official estimates.
The expo is jointly organised by Reed Exhibitions and ISPE; endorsed by US Commercial Service and supported by The Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB),SMA, RFID International Business Federation; GP-FarmasiIndonesia, The Malaysian Organisation of Pharmaceutical Industries (MOPI), The Philippine Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, Inc. (PPMA) and The Thai Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (TPMA).