UBM Japan Pharma Events Grow Despite Air Travel Disruptions

AMSTERDAM, May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite significant international travel restrictions due to the recent Icelandic volcanic cloud, leading events organiser UBM International Media and sister company UBM Japan Co. Ltd. today announced a record visitor attendance of 14,435 at its 2010 Japanese Pharma events cluster, which took place from 21-23 April at Tokyo's Big Sight Exhibition Center. Representing an increase of 3.8% over 2009 attendance levels, the success of the collocated events - CPhI Japan for intermediates and APIs; P-MEC Japan for pharma equipment and machinery; ICSE Japan for Contract Services and the BioPharma pavilion - reflects continuing growth in what is the second largest pharmaceutical market in the world after the United States.

On-site booking renewals for the 2011 events, scheduled for 18-20 April 2011, again at Tokyo Big Sight, are also at record levels, with many major exhibitors,  Abbott Japan Co. Ltd., Sinochem Jiangsu Corporation., Koa Shoji Co. Ltd, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Patheon and Jubilant Organosys having already confirmed space for next year. Last year exhibitor figures of 425 exhibitors from 28 countries were again surpassed, with the 2010 events attracting 450 exhibitors, including 282 non-Japanese organisations spanning 29 countries.

"Under the circumstances caused by the significant travel disruptions, we are delighted that our Japan portfolio continued to grow," commented Eliane van Doorn, UBM International Media's Group Director for Pharma events. "With the majority of European flights grounded during the week of the events and many of our valued international visitors and exhibitors unable to travel, we took steps to ensure they were kept up to date with everything going on in Tokyo via digital media. We constructed a dedicated webpage and updated this daily with seminar content, movies, pictures, a product directory and exhibitor downloads, while encouraging participation and networking for those unable to attend via a CPhI Japan Linked-In group."

In addition to the exhibition and networking elements, the 2010 events offered over 130 seminars and presentations, many of which were fully booked, and focused on dynamic changes in the Japanese pharmaceutical market, such as the revision of Japan's pharmaceutical law, growing competition from foreign companies, increased merger and acquisition activity and the rise in demand for generic drugs.  Highlights included the English language seminar - 'Revised Pharmaceutical Affairs Law Workshop' - which was organised by the Pharmaceuticals and Devices Agency, the Japan Generic Medicines Association and Japan Pharmaceutical Traders Association.

The BioPharma Pavilion, which made its debut during at CPhI Japan 2009, to showcase the most cutting-edge products and services to the Japanese market, was extended for 2010 and attracted strong interest, reflecting the increasing convergence of pharma and biotech business models in global healthcare, and the growing numbers of bio-pharma partnerships in drug innovation, production and market delivery.  

Formal supporters of the events included Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and 18 trade associations and industry organisations. The event's co-organiser was The Chemical Daily Co. Ltd., publisher of the highly respected Chemical Daily and Japan Chemical Week.

UBM International Media's CPhI family of events for the pharma ingredients and services sector includes Worldwide (Europe – October); China (June); South America (August) and India (December).

For further information on CPhI Japan see:  www.cphijapan.com,  www.icsejapan.com and www.pmec-japan.com

Notes for Editors:

• UBM International Media 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 International Media has approximately 1,200 employees in the UK, US, Asia and Europe. See www.ubm.com

SOURCE UBM International Media