CPhI Korea 2015 had impressive international participation with a total of 137 exhibiting companies, including 48 domestic companies and 89 from overseas. The three-day event attracted 4,022 visitors and buyers from 46 countries, including 668 overseas buyers, accounting for 17 per cent of the total attendees.
CPhI Korea 2015, organized by leading professional events organiser UBM and the Korea Pharmaceutical Traders Association, was held at Coex from September 7 to 9. Held as a conference-based event last year, CPhI Korea 2015 blossomed into a full-scale international exhibition attracting buyers and sellers from the entire global pharmaceutical industry.
At the Welcome Luncheon held on September 7, Sekyoo Oh, Representative Director of UBM Korea Corporation and Han Ki Kim, Chairman of the Korea Pharmaceutical Traders Association, gave welcome speeches and were joined with congratulatory messages from Sang Bong Kim, manager of the pharmaceutical quality division of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and Erik Heemskerk, brand director at UBM EMEA.
The luncheon was attended by the presidents of participating companies, embassy officials and representatives from related organisations including Kwang Soo Joo, CEO of the Korea Biomedicine Industry Association, Kang Choo Lee, President of the Korea Drug Research Association,Sang Suk Lee, Vice President of the Korea Research-based Pharmaceutical Industry Associatio, and Jimé Essink, President of UBM Asia Group.
Companies exhibiting in the fair included many of Korea’s leading pharmaceutical companies, such as Hanmi Pharm and Daewoong, Dongkook Pharm. In addition, world’s leading pharmaceutical companies participated in the exhibition, including Merck Ltd. Korea, Ajinomtogenexine, Aminologics, Anton Paar Korea, Biostream Technologies, Changsung Softgel, CMG Pharmaceutical, CTC Bio, Daebong LS, Daehwa Pharmaceutical, Daihan FCS, Dasan Medichem, Dongwoo Syntech, Duksung, Estech Pharma, GFTEC, HUSTECH, Junghyun Plant, Kolmar Korea, KORASIAN Healthcare, Korea Pharma, Korea United Pharm, QBD, Samoh Pharm, SEDNAENG, SKY Softgel, Sungji Corporation, SungYi Pharm, Taiguk Pharm, Wooridul Pharmaceutical, and Wooshin Medics. These companies actively promoted their products and strengthened partnerships with local and overseas buyers.
International participation in the exhibition was very high profile. The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation organized a Russia Pavilion for the first time with 10 Russian companies including “Nanolek,” National immunobiology company, NEARMEDIC PLUS, and R-Pharm CJSC to introduce and promote Russian pharmaceutical industry to Korean market.
On the second day of the event, Sergey A. Tsyb, Vice Minister of Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation signed an MoU with one of the leading Korean biopharmaceutical companies, Celltrion Healthcare. The Russia Pavilion also had in-depth discussions with the Korea Biomedicine Industry Association and the Korea Drug research association to establish a firm collaborative relationship.
Dongkook Pharm, participating for the first time, said “CPhI Korea 2015 provided an opportunity to develop our worldwide network and have a large number of meetings with global partners without travelling abroad.” Dongkook have already confirmed their participation in CPhI Korea 2016.
“At CPhI Korea 2015, we could effectively promote our finished products to Korean market. We had hundreds of meetings and signed lots of contracts, so we will definitely participate again next year again”, said Sibpribor, a Russian food supplements company.
“CPhI Korea helped us improve our existing business and find new partners. Also, the 1:1 business matchmaking programme was very effective for arranging lots of meetings of good quality”remarked Biozeen, a leading bio services company from India.
Sekyoo Oh, Representative Director of UBM Korea Corporation, the organiser of CPhI Korea, said “The show floor size of CPhI Korea 2015 was three times bigger than last year, and the exhibitors showed very enthusiastic attitude. We will continue to dedicate ourselves to making CPhI Korea a platform where domestic pharmaceutical companies can carry out overseas marketing more easily and promote their products to both domestic and overseas buyers.”
Said a representative from the Korea Pharmaceutical Traders Association, co-organiser of the event, “It is important to participate in overseas exhibitions in order to stimulate pharmaceutical exports, but it is also important to invite overseas buyers to Korea and promote the excellence of Korean pharmaceutical market. We will try our best for domestic and overseas pharmaceutical companies to have lots of business meetings together and develop CPhI Korea to the most representative pharmaceutical exhibition in Korea.”
The CPhI Korea 2015 Conference, held alongside the exhibition, featured a wide range of top-level speakers from the government, academia and the industry. On September 7, Zhang Zhongpeng, Deputy Director of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Medicine and Health Products (CCMHPIE), spoke about the strategy for entering Chinese market and Chinese pharmaceutical registration procedures. On September 8, Robert Fish, Senior Consultant of EAS Consulting Group, gave a presentation on how to prepare for a FDA inspection and FDA data integrity.
Miho Tabata, Chief Reviewer of Japan’s PMDA (Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency) explained how to register to generic medicines in Japan, while Kentaro Hashimoto, technical officer of PMDA, explained how to register DMF in Japan. Following both the FDA and PMDA presentations , there were very active Q&A sessions as attendees sought to solve their curiosity by asking questions of the speakers.
On September 9 ,Yongseok Ko, deputy director of the drug review management division of Korea’s National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation (NIFDS), spoke about the drug regulatory system in Korea and Kyungshin Lee, deputy director of the pharmaceutical standardization division at NIFDS explained how to register DMF in Korea. Also, Dr. Nick Jones, vice president in technology & services, Pacific Asia division of IMS Health, provided a special session focusing on the outlook, opportunity, and challenges of the European market over the next five years.
CPhI Korea 2016 will be held from September 23 to 25 , 2016 at COEX with even more exhibitors and a bigger show floor. It will offer a wider range of business opportunities not only through the comprehensive exhibition, but also complemented by a 1:1 business matchmaking programme and a full conference programme.