Leading events organiser UBM Live , a division of UBM Plc (LSE: UBM), announced that its pharmaceutical ingredients event, CPhI China 2011 and co-located events ICSE China for contract and outsourced services, P-MEC China for pharmaceutical machinery and equipment and BioPh China to cater to the biopharmaceuticals market, held from June 21st to 23rd at the SNIEC in Shanghai, experienced a 36% increase in attendance from the 2010 events. Over three days, ten exhibition halls and 4,500 square meters of temporary exhibition space were prepared to host a record of 27,198 attendees, including 5,479 international visitors. Exhibitor numbers also rose year over year. Together, the CPhI China, ICSE China and BioPh China events hosted 1,518 exhibitors, while P-MEC China and the newly introduced LABWorld pavilion for lab instrumentation and analysis hosted 386 exhibitors.

"The growth of CPhI China and the co-located events reflects the transitions in the global marketplace. China has experienced exceptional growth and is expected to overtake Japan and become the world‘s second drug market by 2015 with an estimated value of $100B(1). The events offer a high quality platform for both exhibitors and visitors to have direct access to a comprehensive audience in the local Chinese and global pharmaceutical markets," Annemieke Timmers, Brand Director for CPhI Events said. "During the planning of these events, we remained focused on the market and our customer feedback. We are pleased that the line-up was so well received and look forward to returning to China in 2012."

New event features were offered and established events experienced growth in 2011. The newly launched ICSE China pavilion covered 1,000 square meters of space where 70 exhibitors dedicated to pharma outsourcing and contract services suppliers were located. P-MEC China returned for its third year with an expansion in size to 14,067 square meters and the introduction of the LABWorld China pavilion to offer resources for laboratory, analytical and biotechnological equipment.

"We are delighted with the continued growth of the brands in China, particularly the increasingly international mix of visitors," commented Haf Cennydd, Brand Director for ICSE, P-MEC, LABWorld and BioPh. "We continuously look to evolve the brands so that our visitors and exhibitors have ample opportunities to maximize their return on investment in attending. Features such as the newly introduced conference series are constantly being developed as a complimentary resource to our guests."

The inaugural China conference series, titled "Pharma R&D and Collaboration Strategies", addressed global pharmaceutical issues, with an emphasis on China‘s pharma market, across key areas such as New Drug Discovery, Biopharm, Biosimilars, CRO/CMO, API Sourcing, Generics and Export Strategies and more. Thirty eminent speakers from international pharmaceutical companies and research institutes, such as the FDA, Novartis, USP-China, Roche R&D Center, GSK China/HK, AstraZeneca Innovation Centre China, Sanofi-Aventis, Reva Pharma, Dr. Reddy‘s and Shanghai Pharma, shared their knowledge and research strategies.