CPhI WW attendee figures hit record high, indicating a good year ahead for pharma

Pre-audited figures from the organisers of the largest pharma event CPhI Worldwide have revealed that 44,500 people attended this year’s event in Frankfurt, which also hosted 2,598 exhibitors.

These vast figures from the show, which is used as a barometer for the health of the sector, indicate that pharma should be set for a prosperous year ahead in 2018.

Attendees to the show came from 169 countries and a quarter of those who attended are CEO or board level. Over 85% of attendees were international, with 6,000 visitors from China and India alone.

Over the past three years, the show has grown in attendance by 10,000 people, which UBM believes will be further added to with the launch of BioLive alongside next year’s CPhI Worldwide.

Additionally, this year’s event saw the launch of the inaugural CPhI Global Pharma Index, a reputation league table of major pharma industries that scores the reputes of the major pharma economies across a range of attributes.

The host country, Germany, ranked top in this table for pharmaceutical quality in both ‘APIs’ and ‘finished dosage drugs’. Furthermore, Germany was voted by the industry as the best country for both ‘knowledge of its pharma professionals’ and ‘transparency index’.

Out of the 500 pharma companies surveyed in the index nearly 80% stated they were either ‘confident’ or ‘extremely confident’ (60%) in their business outlook for 2018, and 84% of companies stated they are actively looking for new international partners.

“CPhI Worldwide continues to lead the way for pharma globally, and the event is fundamental to how our global industry meets new partners, learns about the latest trends and does the deals driving forward drug development and commercial production. With a record breaking event and nearly 44,500 attendees, 2018 looks set to be another stellar year for pharma,” explained Orhan Caglayan, brand director Europe, UBM EMEA.