AMSTERDAM: Reflecting the rapid growth in the Indian Pharma market, leading events organiser UBM Live today announced that it expects to see a record number of attendees at its upcoming trade events, CPhI India for pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates, and co-located events, P-MEC for equipment and machinery; ICSE for contract services and packaging; and BioPh for the biopharma sector. Attendee numbers in 2009 hit 26,303, a number that included almost 2,500 international. Visitors came from 86 countries, reflecting the importance of India not only for domestic companies but as a market presenting significant opportunities on the global stage.

For the 2010 events, which take place from December 1-3 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai, UBM expects to see record attendance levels, having seen increased registration and international exhibitor numbers. This prediction is supported by the fact that this year's exhibitor stands sold out in record time, prompting the addition of two new exhibit halls, which also sold out rapidly. For 2010, the number of exhibitors is expected to top 800.

Indian pharma companies have successfully established themselves in the global market, especially in outsourcing and generics and are steadily acquiring western pharma companies. India is at the leading edge (of the pharma market, which grew domestically by 13% in 2009(1), twice that of the global market growth rate. This number is expected to continue its upward trend partly as a result of a new patent structure in India, which will scale up to enable 30 approvals annually, with an average approval time frame of just two years(2), compared to 3.4 years in the US for a drug patent and 4.4 years for a bio-tech patent.

"While CPhI India is very well attended by visitors from the local markets and industries, its appeal is global, and the event attracts a great deal of interest from visitors from outside the pan-Asia region, who interact with domestic and international exhibitors on a wide variety of issues," commented Annemieke Timmers, CPhI India Brand Director. "As one of the foremost international pharmaceutical events in this increasingly important and vibrant market, CPhI India provides visitors with not only with solid networking opportunities, but also scope to broaden their knowledge base through a series of keynote speakers and interactive workshops that encompasses the newest market trends, technologies, products and opportunities. Constantly developing a portfolio of events so that they continue to drive discussion across their respective audiences and seek to tackle the hot button topics are key ongoing objectives for the event. To reinforce this point, the CPhI India Conference series 2010, which runs alongside the main events, comprises of twelve conference modules covering the most relevant topics in the Indian marketplace, including: drug discovery, biosimilars, nanotechnology, vaccine, oncology, stem cells, generics, and machinery."

A main focus point of CPhI India and its co-located shows is providing emphasis that reflects the prevalent trends in the market. This is perfectly illustrated this year with the inclusion of the ICSE Pavilion, which provides a core focus on outsourcing and contract services - a sector growing at 43% annually in India, three times the global rate(3). With a highly skilled workforce, India is becoming one of the most desirable markets to drive business forwards. In addition to manufacturing and research, the other main contract services provided in India are packaging, clinical trials, laboratory services, drug discovery and marketing services. This is alongside the overall growth of the India Pharma market is the associated machinery and equipment market, which is growing on average at 15-20% per year(4). As a result of these trends, P-MEC has seen increasing levels of interest over the last few years. P-MEC provides attendees with a forum to explore the newest advances in equipment and source high-quality machinery and equipment at competitive prices. Showing the growing relevance of this show, P-MEC attendance grew from 1352 to 1633 in 2009, an increase of 21%.

Further information about CPhI India and its co-located events can be found online at http://www.cphi-india.com, and http://www.pmec-india.com.

    
    Notes for Editors:
    -- UBM Live operates market-leading global exhibition brands and their
       complementary media products.
    -- The CPhI pharmaceutical ingredients and related sector exhibitions
       currently number over 15 highly-regarded annual events. The portfolio 
       also includes Informex (specialty chemicals), Food Ingredients, HBA 
       (health & beauty industry) and Sea Trade (cruise industry).
    -- Worldwide locations for its events include China, India, Japan, North
       America, Brazil, Africa and Europe. More than 330,000 business 
       professionals and marketers visit UBM exhibitions each year. The 
       exhibitions portfolio is managed from Holland. UBM Live has 
       approximately 1,200 employees in the UK, US, Asia and Europe. See 
       www.ubm.com

(1) The Pharmerging Future. IMS

(2) India Pharma 2015: Unlocking the Potential of the Indian Pharmaceuticals Market. McKinsey&Company

(3) Aashruti Kak: Regulating Outsourcing

(4) Pharmaceutical Machinery: Indian Market. http://www.pharmaceuticalmachinery.in/pharmaceutical_machinery_indian_market.htm