CPhI Korea Opens as South Korea’s Biotech Sector Expands

CPhI Korea will return to the COEX in Seoul, South Korea from 7 to 9 September 2015 following its inaugural event in 2014. Co-organized by UBM EMEA and the Korean Pharmaceutical Traders Association, the event will be co-located with ICSE, P-MEC, and BioPh. The four-in-one show provides a meeting point for global suppliers of raw materials, machinery, contract services, and bio-solutions with domestic and international players across the entire pharmaceutical supply chain.

The CPhI Korea conference program will explore pharma trends while the 1:1 Business Matchmaking Program is designed to enable exhibitors to target specific companies for business opportunities through 1:1 meetings organized prior to arrival.

The South Korean pharmaceutical market has been projected to reach $24 billion by 2020. Following the release of the “Pharma 2020 Vision,” the local government invested $8.9 billion into drug development over the next five years. The biotech sector is also expanding with annual double-digit growth expected during the coming years. Moreover, the country is said to have the largest number of biosimilar clinical trials and targets in its pipeline.

In 2014, South Korea joined the Pharmaceutical Inspection Convention and Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme (PIC/S), which allowed domestic companies in the South Korean pharma industry to advance into foreign markets. CPhI Korea hopes that this year’s event will facilitate more of such international collaboration. The event has been expanded to three days, with exhibition space that is three times larger. More than 3000 attendees and 150 exhibitors from an estimated 50 countries are set to gather in South Korea for the event’s second edition. Sponsors of this year’s event include the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Korea Drug Research Association, and Korea Biomedicine Industry Association.