BRIEF—Manufacturing growth sees surging demand at CPhI South East Asia

SE Asian demand for manufacturing is being driven by recent regulatory changes and increased generics from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

These prosperous regional conditions were in evidence at the largest ever CPhI South East Asia (8th edition), which closed late last month. The event’s move from Indonesia to Thailand was extremely successful, with the new Bangkok location booming in just its first year of operation.

Often seen as an indicator of ASEAN pharma’s overall health, the success of CPhI South East Asia suggests a thriving pharma sector in the region. Indicative of this region’s overall prosperity, the show has seen an increase of more than 50% in attendees, with almost 7,250 unique attendees and more than 250 exhibitors over three days.

One of the emerging trends reported by exhibitors was the increased internationalization, and this was a common theme running throughout the show, whether it was content from sessions about the FDA Framework and requirements for importing API to an increased number of regional distributors.

Additionally, the number of visitors seeking a contract manufacturer was extremely high, further indicative of the internationalization of the ASEAN pharma industry, with multinational corporations increasingly looking for local partners to expedite market access into the wider region.

The AS0EAN’s market is widely expected to see robust growth through 2019 into 2020 in part thanks to its diversity of opportunity.

The region features a good mix of rapidly gentrifying healthcare economies in Thailand and Vietnam, coupled advanced economies with significant high-value manufacturing in Singapore, as well as large patient population countries with an ever increasing demand for generics in Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines.