The International Convention on Pharmaceutical Ingredients and Intermediates (CPhI Worldwide) continues to scale new heights. The annual event, which started out with just 16 exhibitors in 1990, has grown to become the largest gathering of pharmaceutical professionals in Europe today.

At this year''s CPhI Worldwide, organized at Paris Nord, Pare d''expositions Villepinte, from October 1 to 3, there are more than 1,500 companies involved in areas like active pharmaceutical ingredients, chemicals and intermediates, excepients and drug formulation, natural extracts and general services presenting their wares. And the number of people visiting is expected to break through the 10,000 mark for the first time.

Although the number of exhibitors is on a par with last year''s event in London''s brand new Excel Centre, the exhibition has grown in terms of the amount of space booked.

Last year''s event also broke previous records, with visitors up by 24 per cent and the amount of space taken by 20 per cent. Of these visitors, 75 per cent are expected from the ranks of CEO, president, director or manager. And an over-whelming 95 per cent comes away saying they had made new business contacts, one of their primary reasons for attending.

The success of CPhI has been such that it is now starting to spawn related exhibitions. The first of these is the International Contract Services Expo (ICSE), which runs alongside CPhI Worldwide, and is a forum for contract organizations, industry consultants and other service providers to meet pharmaceutical clients. Now in its third year, it is the only exhibition that deals exclusively with pharma outsourcing.

In a survey conducted among visitors to CPhI 2000 at Milan two years ago, it was found that 63 per cent of the pharma delegates were looking for services as well as products. "They buy products at CPhI and knowledge at ICSE," the organizers say. Though these events are separate entities but there are overlaps often.

Another offshoot is CPhI China, an exhibition centered on that country''s more than 6,000 pharmaceutical manufacturers. The event was inaugurated last July in Shanghai with more than 190 exhibitors and almost 7,000 visitors, 1,000 of who were from overseas and the remainder from 33 Chinese regions.

This year, of course, this magnificent metropolis offers attendees of CPhI lots of possibilities to combine business with pleasure. But more importantly, the expected record-breaking number of attendees, conducting business interacting personally will turn the 13th edition of CPhI into a success.

As usual, at CPhI one can be sure of a high quality audience; last year''s edition in London attracted well over 10,000 decision makers from more than a 110 countries. Actually, at CPhI you run the ''risk'' of bumping into pharmaceutical CEOs almost at every corner! And that''s the basic idea behind CPhI Worldwide: in just three days, you have the world of new products, partnerships and contacts with you, which really makes it unique event that offers you such great opportunities to boost your performance in the pharma-chemical market.

At the CPhI 2002, around 1,000 exhibiting companies active in pharmaceutical ingredient and intermediate manufacturing and allied industries would be present. Similarly for ICSE there are 110 exhibiting companies active in Pharmaceutical outsourcing (Contract Service Organisations). This time there is a special feature pavilion, The BioTech HotSpot and the exhibitor showcases in the ICSE exhibition area.

The exhibitors at ICSE are contract service suppliers that offer the pharmaceutical industry highly specialized skills, which can help pharmaceutical companies to achieve more rapid drug development and cost-reduction. The organizers say that they are proud to present the ICSE Showcases 2002, the place where latest developments will be presented by the developers themselves. Both exhibiting companies as well as all the visitors of the CPhI/ICSE 2002 Worldwide exhibition will have the chance and hear the live presentations. The showcases will be held on all three exhibition days and will take place right in the heart of the ICSE Exhibition at Paris - Nord Villepinte, stand number C39 in Hall 1.

A new addition at CPhI Worldwide will be the BioTech Hot Spot. This is a pavilion comprising companies presenting future developments in the pharmaceutical biotechnology industry. The BioTech Hot Spot will be the meeting place for biotechnology companies and business development / research managers from the pharmaceutical industry. At the BioTech Hot Spot, companies active in biotechnology will have a unique opportunity to meet 18,000 pharmaceutical industry professionals visiting and exhibiting at the CPhI Worldwide and ICSE exhibitions.

According to the organizers, the exhibiting biotechnology companies will introduce their services to the pharmaceutical industry; raise new venture capital and exchange technology with established pharmaceutical companies.

Overall, the CPhI Worldwide Exhibition is the meeting place for everyone involved in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Meeting new and interesting business partners in person is one of the primary goals for attendees to come to this unique and truly global event.

People working in this highly specialized field often wish to know exactly where their business is heading; they want to know more about the latest developments of new formulations, techniques and products. And that''s where the CPhI Conference comes in. During the two-day programme of this high profile Conference, papers with in depth information on pharmaceutical techniques on a highly scientific level. The visitors are offered the opportunity to establish connections with the representatives of organizations presenting their papers; at the CPhI Conference and Exhibition.

The other specialty of the conference is the high quality keynote speakers. Since science comes first at the CPhI Conference, as is proven by the quality of the first of its keynote speakers, Prof. Pierre Gilles de Gennes (College de France, Paris). Prof. De Gennes, who has been honored by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1991 with the Nobel Prize in Physics, for discovering that methods developed for studying order phenomena in simple systems can be generalized to more complex forms of matter, in particular to liquid crystals and polymer, will be speaking about ''Principles of adhesion: From hard systems to soft systems''.

The other keynote speaker Bernard Riviere, is the chairman of the Union des Industries Chimiques. The UIC is the professional body federating all the chemical companies. It provides them with exchange and meeting structures, and encourages their development. It represents and defends them in its various fields of activities, such as social, economic, technical, fiscal and legal affairs. Riviere will be speaking about ''Overview and perspectives of Fine Chemicals within the French Chemical Industry''.