Interphex China-API China Exhibition Attract 30,000

The co-located Interphex China and API China exhibitions, held November 13–15 in Shenzhen-just across the river from Hong Kong-attracted 30,000 dealers, buyers, and sellers of ingredients, intermediates, excipients, and processing and packaging machinery.

The show-the 59th edition of API China and the third edition of Interphex China-provides a window into the dynamic Chinese pharmaceutical industry. The domestic Chinese pharmaceutical market is forecast to grow by more than 15% a year over the next three years. At the same time, Chinese manufacturers are increasing their exports of raw materials, excipients, and active pharmaceutical ingredients to pharmaceutical companies worldwide, including to developed countries in the West. Exhibitors in the API section of the show reflected both the size and diversity of the Chinese industry, ranging from suppliers of traditional Chinese medicines for the domestic market to companies providing high quality ingredients for Western manufacturers.

Managers at several exporting companies exhibiting at the show acknowledged that Western quality standards are higher than Chinese requirements, but noted that things are changing. “Chinese standards are constantly getting tougher,” said Zeng Huan Qun, vice president of Cheng Yi Pharmaceutical Co, an API and intermediates manufacturer based in Zhejiang, whose booth displayed enlarged copies of approval letters from the US FDA and other Western regulatory agencies. Zeng also noted that more and more local companies are rising to the challenge of meeting higher quality standards. “Two other companies in our province recently passed US FDA inspections,” he said.

Exhibitors at the Interphex portion of the show are betting that as China’s pharmaceutical manufacturing industry grows, the demand for equipment-particularly high quality equipment-will grow with it. Pall Life Sciences is taking its participation in the Chinese market one step further, by offering expertise as well as tools. At the event, Pall announced the launch of its Technical Innovation Center in Shanghai, which will provide technical support, validation services, and professional training for its customers. “We were pleased that our technical and scientific staff received numerous inquiries [about the center of excellence] at the show,” said Ian Sellick, PhD, director of marketing for Pall Life Sciences.

This is this third co-location of the two shows, which are produced by Reed Sinopharm Exhibitions, a joint venture between Reed Exhibitions and the Chinese state-owned company China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm). The next edition of API China-Interphex China will be held from May 20–22, 2008, in Dalian.