'The World's Largest Expo' CPHI, Featuring Full Participation of K-Pharma and Bio

'CPHI Worldwide 2022'
Held in Frankfurt, Germany from 1st to 3rd

Samba, Celt, SK, Lotba, and others set up exclusive booths

Overview of the Samsung Biologics booth installed at the 'CPHI Worldwide 2022' event in Frankfurt, Germany (Photo by Samsung Biologics)

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] Domestic pharmaceutical and bio companies are seeking new opportunities at the world's largest pharmaceutical and bio expo held in Germany.

According to industry sources on the 2nd, more than 60 domestic companies will participate in this year's 'International Pharmaceutical Expo (CPHI Worldwide 2022)'. CPHI is the largest global pharmaceutical and bio industry event held annually in rotation among major European countries. This year, it will be held for three days from the 1st to the 3rd (local time) in Frankfurt, Germany. During the event, more than 2,500 companies from 170 countries are expected to participate, with over 40,000 visitors expected to attend the exhibition.

In particular, as the event covers the entire cycle of related industries from active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished drugs to packaging materials, equipment, clinical trial outsourcing (CRO), and contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMO), various domestic companies have also attended this event. These include Samsung Biologics, Celltrion, SK Pharmteco, and Lotte Biologics, which have their own booths, as well as Daewoong Pharmaceutical, Yuhan Corporation, Hanmi Pharmaceutical, Daewon Pharmaceutical, Boryung, ST Pharm, Jeil Pharmaceutical, and Samjin Pharmaceutical.

With many companies attending CPHI, their objectives are diverse. Some are looking for CMO clients, others are seeking export partners for their newly developed drugs, and some are searching for suppliers to diversify their raw material supply sources.

Visitors at the Samsung Biologics booth installed at the 'CPHI Worldwide 2022' event in Frankfurt, Germany, are listening to related explanations. (Photo by Samsung Biologics)

Samsung Biologics, which has set up its own booth every year since 2017 except for the online event in 2020, also established a large-scale booth this year. Through this, it focuses on finding clients by leveraging the world's largest CMO capacity, which will reach 604,000 liters next year, including the recently partially operational Plant 4 started last month.

In the contract development (CDO) area, Samsung Biologics highlighted the competitiveness of its recently launched bispecific antibody platform 'S-Dual' and candidate screening platform 'Developick'. Kevin Sharp, General Manager of Samsung Biologics Global Sales Center attending the event, emphasized the importance of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), stating, "Many companies prefer CDMOs that practice 'eco-friendly management'."

Lotte Biologics, which plans to complete the post-merger integration (PMI) of the Syracuse plant acquired from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) by next month, is also using this CPHI as an opportunity to secure orders following BioUSA in June. Michael Housleiden, the first head of the Syracuse plant corporation appointed in September, also attended the event. Housleiden is known to have worked for a long time at BMS and also at the Syracuse plant.

Celltrion is seeking partners for the operation of its 60,000-liter Plant 3, scheduled for completion next year, as well as for new antibody biosimilar products and subsequent pipelines. A Celltrion official stated, "We plan to hold meetings with various companies that can create mutual synergy through collaboration."

Samsung Biologics, Celltrion, and Lotte Biologics exclusive booths (from left) installed at the 'CPHI Worldwide 2022' event venue in Frankfurt, Germany (Photo by each company)

Daewoong Pharmaceutical and Jeil Pharmaceutical are looking for partners to jointly advance their self-developed new drugs overseas. Daewoong Pharmaceutical has set up a solo booth and is promoting new partnerships for exports of its gastroesophageal reflux disease treatment 'Pexuclu', the sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor diabetes drug 'Envlo' (generic name Inavogliflozin), and botulinum toxin (BTX) 'Nabota'. A Daewoong Pharmaceutical official explained, "In 2019, we also discovered partners for Pexuclu in Latin America and the Middle East at CPHI and signed export contracts."

Jeil Pharmaceutical is also pursuing business cooperation for its pipeline, including 'JP-1366', a potassium-competitive acid blocker (P-CAB) based reflux esophagitis treatment currently in Phase 3 clinical trials through its subsidiary Onconic Therapeutics, as well as self-developed combination improved new drugs.

Some domestic companies cited diversifying API supply sources as a major purpose of participating in this expo. With the domestic self-sufficiency rate of raw pharmaceutical materials averaging around 28%, companies that have heavily relied on China for raw materials are seeking stable supply chains amid the US-China trade conflict.

It is also analyzed that the large participation of Indian companies is not unrelated to this trend. Among the registered companies at this CPHI, India has the largest number with 378 companies. Notably, 194 of these are API companies, accounting for more than half. They appear to be actively promoting themselves, viewing the contraction of China's manufacturing and export capabilities as an opportunity.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.