Amsterdam, 15th November 2017: CPhI Worldwide, organised by UBM, closes its 28th edition with pre-audit figures indicating a record-breaking attendance of over 44,500* and 2,598 exhibitors. Held in Frankfurt (Germany), the heart of Europe’s biggest pharmaceutical market (24-26th October, 2017), the world’s largest pharma event saw attendees from 169 countries – 25% of which are CEO or board level.

CPhI Worldwide is widely used as a barometer of pharma’s overall health, as it is the only platform that brings together global pharma, and a strong event is reflective of a prosperous pharma industry. Over 85% of attendance is international, with over 6,000 people travelling from China and India alone. In fact, 71% of all visitors have purchasing power, with an average annual budget of EUR 3,5 million per department.

Remarkably, in just the last 3 years alone, CPhI Worldwide has grown its audience base by a staggering 10,000 people, pulling in new attendees from across finished formulations and biologicals – with the latter set to see further growth with the launch of a new event, BioLive in 2018.

UBM attributes the impressive increase in attendance to its enhanced reputation as a meeting ground for pharma businesses – the event recorded over 56,598 company searches and 952,152 interactions though its supplier finder tools – and its commitment to introducing the latest technological advances that make CPhI Worldwide easier to navigate. For example, there were more than 9,000 downloads of its mobile app (up 80% year-on-year) and a rise in social media engagement.

In another ground-breaking achievement, the 2017 event saw the launch of the world’s first ever reputation league table of major pharma industries – the CPhI Global Pharma Index – which scores the reputes of the major pharma economies across a range of attributes. Aptly, Germany – the host country – finished top of the rankings for pharmaceutical quality in both ‘APIs’ and ‘finished dosage drugs’. Germany was also voted by the industry as the best country for both ‘knowledge of its pharma professionals’ and ‘transparency index’ – essentially, a rank of countries with the best regulations, business transparency and anti-corruption practices. Highlighting the industry’s confidence, of the 500 pharma companies surveyed in the CPhI Global Pharma Index, nearly 80% of respondents 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.

Another major factor in the event’s continued success is its zonal layout, with outsourcing, machinery, and packaging represented by co-located ICSE, P-MEC, and Innopack, respectively. In total, CPhI Worldwide featured 22 country pavilions and 19 different zones covering the entire supply chain, with bio exhibitors becoming increasingly prominent.

Finally, in the celebration of the global pharmaceutical industry, the CPhI Pharma Awards also experienced a bumper year, doubling the number of entries and finalists – with more than 200 submissions and 19 innovative winners.

“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. But it’s also going to be a huge year for UBM, as we expand our reach into the MENA region – with CPhI MEA – and introduce a dedicated bio processing event, BioLive, to run parallel to CPhI next year in Madrid.” Orhan Caglayan, Brand Director Europe, UBM EMEA.

*: Pre audited figures