Welcome to Frankfurt as we return to the first full-sized CPHI event since 2019, with onsite seminars, content and a full programme of activities. In fact, we see great confidence and resilience in the industry, and we expect our attendee numbers to meet or exceed those from 2019, which shows a tremendous industry-wide rebound.

 LSKH: So what is new for 2022?

The first thing attendees will notice is that we have undergone a significant rebranded – to better reflect our place in the industry – and the event is now called CPHI Frankfurt. So an improved experience will be present and you will see around the show floor the new logos, content and there is even an experiential surprise waiting as you enter. We wanted the excitement of networking, partnering and business to start even before you enter – as the event is also a celebration of pharma and everything is achieving. In fact, our new philosophy is that CPHI is the heart of pharma and this will guide everything we do moving forwards.

LSKH: what are the lessoned learnt of the recent past?

The experiences of Covid over the last several years underlined the importance of developing and refining how we serve the pharma community in the digital realm, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.  So our focus is on the opportunity to further integrate our in-person event experience with our online offering and these now entirely complement the other.”

For example, the virtual environment enables visitors to enhance the experience at the in-person CPHI Frankfurt, with visitors able to identify the people and companies they want to meet in person.

LSKH: the best advice for those attending?

The best advice we can offer is to spend a little time before the event deciding on your objectives for attending and think about the quality as well as the quantity of meetings you set up.  It’s worth thinking about the type of information you need and what questions that are best asked in person to understand both the required capability, capacity, and cultural alignment, which is especially crucial in co-development pharma partnerships.

 LSKH: What trends do you see as pivotal for the year ahead?

“There is a lot of talk of a global economic slowdown, yet for the pharma supply chain, the forces of demand and capacity seem likely to stay strong and growth looks pretty robust for the next two or three years.  And for CDMOs, the CPHI Annual Report 2022 points to an extremely healthy outlook. Behind these growth figures, you only need look at this year’s CPHI Frankfurt agenda to get a window into the hot topics of tomorrow: with Psychedelics, new excipients and mRNA vaccines for non-infectious disease indications to be big growth areas.  And these highlights sit alongside the single biggest lesson pharma learnt from the pandemic, namely the value of collaboration and partnering.  It’s that learning which drives us to never rest on our laurels and to keep helping the industry to find new ways to meet, learn and connect.  It’s really important to acknowledge – celebrate, even – that the partnerships established at CPHI make a real-world difference to the pharma industry in terms of how fast medicines are developed and reach the market, are accessed by prescribers and deliver good health outcomes to patients.”

What should be the major takeaways for companies ahead of CPHI this year? 

“I’d say the single biggest takeaway from CPHI this year is the value of partnerships and partnering – whether that is to advance a new drug through faster development, to lower the cost of manufacturing processes, or to make supply chains more secure and resilient. Pharma achieves all of this much faster when there’re able to find, establish and build relationships with the right partner. Every company in the global manufacturing supply chain is looking for new technologies, additional capacity and to build contingencies into their business and that means building an even wider network of contacts and connections. So, it’s the ideal time for us to be returning with a full schedule at CPHI Frankfurt.

Our speakers and our CPHI Annual Report experts all tell us that the growth we expect to see in next few years will be driven by the quality of partnering networks that the industry is building right now. And that’s why we fully expect to see the number of exhibitors and visitors to CPHI to rebound to the levels we last saw in 2019.”