Interview
Marking a milestone in Milan for Pharma and Informa
Ahead of the 35th edition of CPHI Worldwide , taking place in Milan 8-10 October , Paul Colston put some questions to Adam Andersen , executive vice-president , Pharma , at the show organiser Informa Markets
PHI Milan 2024 , a
C major trade show organised by Informa , celebrates its 35th anniversary this year – quite a milestone ! Tell us a bit about the journey of the show and where it now sits in your Pharma portfolio . CPHI has come a long way from just a few hundred people 35 years ago , to over 60,000 this year – growing alongside the pharma industry . We have expanded the show as the industry needs have changed and we also now have a very diverse base of exhibitors . But we also expanded geographically and there are CPHI branded events in all major pharma regions . These include India , China , USA , Korea and Japan – but also in emerging regions like the Middle East and Southeast Asia .
How will this year ’ s show compare with the Covid years and pre-2020 . Are things fully back on track ? The great news is this year is well above pre-Covid numbers and there has been a very strong desire among our audiences to meet in person again . It is a vital part of the industry and building connections . What we have also focussed on is ensuring the right people come and last year we significantly grew our C-suite attendees .
What are your goals this year ? What is new ? We are making the event much more experiential and improved the appeal of the event beyond its vital role in building business . We have further improved the app and built out our sustainability content and initiatives .
We are always looking at how to improve the show , whether that ’ s in adding new verticals or growing existing channels , for example , biologics manufacturing this year is a much bigger focus .
This year we are embracing the future with a Manufacturing 5.0 content theatre that features innovative companies that are using artificial intelligence and robotics in drug discovery and development .
How important are Pharma events to the Informa Markets portfolio and , indeed , to the medical world at large ? This is an industry that is incredibly global and places a very high value on meeting face-to-face to build trust and develop the complex partnerships needed to advance medicines . Go back 35 years and very few parts of innovative medicine development were outsourced – whereas now CPHI exhibitors are contributing to about half the new drug approvals in the US each year – and you see this pattern in all major markets . CPHI has been vital in helping these partners meet and grow the partnering possibilities . The industry needed outsourcing to expediate the innovation we see today , and CPHI has been the vital component in building the needed outsourcing ecosystem .
In terms of your own industry ‘ journey ’, how did your career path bring you into events and your current role at Informa ? At the start of my career I was an exhibitor and attendee in the food and nutraceuticals space at Informa ’ s own Natural Products Expos , before joining then Penton Media , pre- Informa , and eventually leading the Natural Products Expos for over a decade . I built my career there in Boulder , and then , I had a fantastic opportunity to move to Amsterdam to lead the CPHI portfolio . It ’ s a great
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