How do you view the growth of the pharmaceutical ingredients markets across Asia, especially India and China?
There are distinct global and regional strands to this exciting growth - each relating to Asia's ever more impressive inventory of assets and skills available to the world market at highly competitive cost.

The global strand is seeing the much-discussed realignment in pharma custom services. This is ultimately part of a bigger opportunity to bring healthcare manufacturing costs more into line with public affordability, which is arguably how we should view the potential benefit of "globalisation".

The regional strand is more obviously focused on strong growth in domestic demand for pharma services capacity, already strongly evident in China. Again, this can only benefit the wider global picture in competitive provision of healthcare products. From a narrower CPhI viewpoint, these growth trends are driving rapid expansion in CPhI China and laid the foundations for the debut this year of CPhI India.

How has 'CPhI' the brand contributed to growth of the sector ?
As the recognised annual meeting place for all parts of the pharma ingredients and services community, CPhI has enabled the networking and information interchange vital to efficient business growth - especially since the contracting/outsourcing trend that took off in the '90s. The additions of the CPhI China and CPhI Japan shows were undoubtedly a focus to speed regional development, while the overall CPhI "brand" is now virtually integral to business life in pharma services. To continue that contribution, the future business value of "CPhI" lies in anticipating and serving industry's changing needs.

Taking proven CPhI networking to the next level demands an extension from event to valuable every day business partner: the transition from "trade show" brand to "information" brand. That's why we announced at CPhI Worldwide in October that we'll be introducing the new 'CPhI Worldwide On-line' website in 2007 - adding 24/7 information networking.

There will be no change to the CPhI "meeting place". Each annual event will continue to follow an individual development path under the CPhI brand, while there will be continuing parallel development for the ICSE contract services and P-MEC equipment events that are now firmly part of the wider CPhI "community".

However, we currently see market potential for at least one more regional CPhI - where the "second generation" CPhI event and information brand would act as both a catalyst and channel for growth in an exciting marketplace.

The market is moving towards India and China. Will this be factored into the evolution of the global CPhI brand ?
Yes - indeed their importance is already being reflected in the expansion of the CPhI "family". Examples include the addition of the ICSE China show alongside CPhI China since 2005; the launch this year of CPhI India and the addition of ICSE India and P-MEC India alongside the second staging of CPhI India in 2007.

And, talking of global dynamics, let's remember that it will not be long before CPhi China overtakes CPhI Worldwide for both exhibitor and visitor numbers.Each CPhI event has evolved its own character and distinctive features and the brand needs to preserve these. With India and China as global industry drivers they should naturally influence both their respective regional shows and the wider development of the CPhI "offer". We view the coming introduction of the 24/7 on-line information product as very much in line with a "global brand" agenda that benefits all the "CPhI" communities, both established and emerging.

CPhI Worldwide, CPhI Japan and CPhI China have become the top brands for the pharmaceutical ingredients market. How have these events evolved through the years into the networking platforms that they are today?
The perhaps surprising answer is that the basic formula of CPhI Worldwide and the corresponding events in China and Japan has changed little over the years. The drivers have been the appeal of an event catering for a wide cross section in pharma services, and steadily rising annual attendance figures - delivering people you want to meet.

This concentration of opportunities to meet and do business over three days has grown to the point where CPhI Worldwide is a "must attend" event - and strong enough draw to be adding more than 5% annually to its attendance figures.

An element of CPhI's more recent evolution has been the progressive addition of the ICSE (contract services) and P-MEC (equipment) satellite shows under the CPhI umbrella. These have given sharper focus to specific growth/interest sectors, but with the mutual benefits from a wider total audience and "combined opportunity". This trend too has played its part to build the networking potential of CPhI Worldwide as the industry's annual Autumn gathering in Europe.

A notable feature of the ICSE events is the showcase/seminar feature, which has similarly always been a major part of our CPhI Japan show - which this year featured over 90 separate seminar and presentation opportunities.Today, our objective is to retain the valuable "networking platforms" while adding even more day-to-day business value to the brand - hence the introduction of the 24/7 CPhI On-line.

Why did you decide to bring in an Indian edition of the show?
Given the rapid expansion of India's pharma and pharma services sectors - and its strong existing interest in the CPhI Worldwide formula - "CPhI India" was a natural extension to the family. A show in and for India was also a logical addition alongside our existing regional events CPhI China and CPhI Japan.
The valuable opportunity to team for 2006 with the Indian Pharmaceutical Congress and Pharma Expo meant that the debut of CPhI India would be a powerful event, bringing together all sectors of the national pharma business community - academic, development, manufacturing, equipment and service supply.

Linking the leading international API and pharma services event to India's top pharma networking event delivers major added value, business opportunity, interest and personal convenience for exhibitors and visitors alike.We are delighted at having over 250 exhibitors for the debut show which, at over 6,000 sq. m., is significantly and pleasingly ahead of our planning expectations.

How do you foresee the Indian edition evolving ?
ooking ahead, one certainty is that our second CPhI India will be staged in the Bombay Exhibition Centre on 26 - 28 November 2007.Our original, announced plan was to debut ICSE India alongside our second CPhI in India, thus adding contracting/outsourcing as an additional important focus in the second year. This is still the plan though, as we were able to announce at CPhI Worldwide in October, there will be further new dimensions in 2007.

The first is that interest has enabled us to bring forward plans for an Indian version of the P-MEC equipment show - which will now debut next year in tandem with the ICSE India debut. CPhI India 2007 will thus be an umbrella for a trio of shows providing complete coverage of all main pharma services sectors: ingredients, contract services, machinery and equipment.

The second development for 2007 is that the three shows will have the valuable support of Pharmexcil. We are delighted to have their co-operation and partnership, appreciate their confidence and look forward to working with them closely on our 2007 event plans.CPhI India was conceived as a business platform for both Indian domestic market and international pharma services companies. I'm delighted that 52% of our exhibitors are international companies looking to establish links here in India. This is a promising beginning and indicates that CPhI India is already destined to become a key event on the global industry stage.