LEAP-ing into the future of pharma – the CPHI Middle East Vision

L-R: Tara Dougal, Adam Andersen, Peter Hall, Claudia Palme

On March 6, 2024, the CPHI team hosted the Future of Pharma Forum at LEAP 2024, Saudi Arabia’s premier destination for tech leaders and innovators to meet and collaborate.  

Uniquely positioned to support the upward trajectory of the Middle East pharma market and the growth of localised manufacturing capability, the event will bring together senior stakeholders from across the supply chain to connect, partner and share insights on how to harness opportunities and drive growth. Moderated by Tara Dougal, Content Director - Pharma at Informa Markets, the panel included Peter Hall, President – Middle East, India, Türkiye and Africa, Adam Andersen, Executive Vice President – Pharma of Informa Markets, and Claudia Palme, Senior Executive Advisor at Strategy& and CPHI Advisory Board Member. 

CPHI Middle East: the heart of pharma comes to Riyadh 

CPHI boasts 30 years of experience in supporting B2B services for the pharmaceutical supply chain. Starting as a conference on pharmaceutical ingredients, Hall highlighted CPHI’s growth into the wider pharmaceutical manufacturing supply chain. Of CPHI’s expansion into the Middle East, Hall stated, “We’ve been doing exhibitions in Saudi Arabia for about 15 years, but over the last 3 years of our history here, we’ve really seen the market taking off – collaboration with the ministries in strategic sectors where we have global brands, global IPS – it has been very powerful. The collaboration of the Ministry of Communications that we have with LEAP is a demonstration of how powerful these partnerships can be. We see our role as being facilitators of markets bringing communities together in niche sectors, operating in healthcare, construction, fashion – sectors. CPHI is one of the most famous exhibition brands in the whole of Informa, and we’re very excited to be able to bring that brand to the Middle East, and to Saudi Arabia.”  

When asked about the potential innovation of the Middle East’s regional pharma chain, Andersen, who leads the CPHI exhibition portfolio, commented on the available and potential market opportunities in Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East region. “We’re always looking at ways we can grow and serve the global pharmaceutical market,” Andersen stated. “We actually had plans to enter the Saudi market in 2020 but of course, that was postponed due to the pandemic. In hindsight, it was a blessing in disguise because with the formation of Tahaluf and our partnership with the Saudi government, we are able to have a larger infrastructure here and a local team to deliver an event that really serves a local market and highlights the opportunities in Saudi to the global pharmaceutical industry.” 

Palme reflected on the earlier days of the pharmaceutical market in Saudi Arabia, with the KSA providing up to 70% of sales across the Middle East and Africa region. “This is one of the most dynamic places in the world and pharma is one of the most integrated and diversified value chains in any industry,” she commented. “It depends on dozens of partners in different places so there need to be forums and opportunities to bring all of this together across geographies.” 

Strategic alignment: Vision 2030 and CPHI Middle East 

In 2022, the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming, and Drones launched a joint venture with Informa PLC. The joint venture Tahaluf, meaning ‘alliance’ in Arabic, aims to support the strategic goals of the KSA’s Vision 2030. “We’re deliberately trying to work in sectors that are of strategic importance to Saudi Arabia,” Hall stated. “We’re aligning the IP and assets that we have with Informa globally that are in these strategic sectors – pharmaceutical manufacturing, healthcare, technology – so this partnership is extremely critical. We’re in the business of forming partnerships at our events like CPHI. It’s all about partnerships, meetings, and people coming together to learn from each other and to form relationships. So, we’ve done that for ourselves. We’ve entered a partnership with the Saudi government, and we intend to use [Tahaluf] as a vehicle to deliver Vision 2030 goals and partnership opportunities in Saudi for difference sectors.” 

Speaking to why now is the right time to launch CPHI Middle East, Andersen commented, “We want to keep accelerating growth. About 60% of the pharma market is in the Saudi region and it’s important to highlight that growth opportunity, not only expanding upon the manufacturing chain but also bring the scale that CPHI can offer. CPHI is very much an international brand and we see our role as highlighting the local region and host country, to open up opportunities to international players to enter the market, build their own partnerships locally, and invest in the country and region, fuelling growth and success.” 

Palme also spoke about other key vertical markets in the Saudi region, and how emerging markets present both an opportunity and unique challenges. “It’s not just about the invention and making of a drug product, but a whole host of other industries around pharma. Saudi set up a research and innovation authority 2 years ago, which is explicitly dedicated to support such activities. Along the value chain, clinical research organisations, data processors, patient managers, data privacy – there’s a host of industries that service these areas or are adjacent to these markets and ready to emerge. There’s also an interest to add to the medical devices and technology industry. So, the full picture is much broader. I think CPHI is very willing to adapt to the different requirements here.” 

“We as a portfolio are growing,” Dougal added. “CPHI Middle East is new for us, but the pharma market here is also relatively new and as such we hope to grow alongside the industry and make that journey a collaborative one.” 

To close the event, each panellist shared what excited them the most about CPHI Middle East. “I’d say it’s a newer market for us, but we’re very excited to collaborate with colleagues and partners here, and bring the CPHI experience to Riyadh this year,” Andersen started.  

“CPHI is the largest exhibition that we have in the whole Informa group,” Hall added. “We’ve been working to try and find an opportunity that works on a combination of things to get this event to market and we’re finally here, talking about something that’s going to happen in December, so I’m really pleased.” 

Palme concluded, “Everyone is aware that this is a private industry. In the end, the real push must come from companies and CPHI as the first to put a signature event here may bring many other events to follow. This is what needs to happen to get the national strategy and industry moving.” 

Strategies and logistics for CPHI in Saudi Arabia 

Questions on academic involvement with the private pharmaceutical industry were present, with some asking about partnering with educational and research institutions in the KSA alongside the supply chain. Dougal answered, “The event is a commercial platform that brings together buyers and sellers of ingredients, products, and technologies. But it’s also a very important destination for thought leadership. We’re currently working on building out an agenda that covers key pillars within the market verticals, one of which is R&D and innovation. We will be partnering with local universities, bringing academic speakers, and also start-ups, which are an important part of the industry, feeding innovation into the market. So, beyond the platform for buyers and sellers to meet and connect, the event is absolutely a destination for learning about the latest innovations.” 

The strategy of regional CPHI shows alongside a bigger CPHI Europe event is an important part of the CPHI brand, as Andersen explained, “We look at pharma as a global industry, so each show has an opportunity to highlight its host country, and the unique challenges or opportunities it presents. Saudi Arabia, as the largest manufacturing hub in this region, has a focus on that growth in the Middle East region, but also the opportunities here for biotechs and start-ups to bring global investors to Saudi.” The ability to host a flagship show alongside regional shows allows for multinational participation in every corner of the globe and representing a global pharmaceutical supply chain. 

“The strength of CPHI is access to a huge network of pharma professionals from across the globe,” Hall added. “We see our role in communicating and sharing the message of the potential of specific markets to our partners.” 

Regarding the audience demographics of CPHI Middle East, an audience member posed an important question around how to attract CDMOs and outsourcing partners to the region. “Globally, CDMOs are one of the largest sectors and one of the fastest growing sectors,” Andersen clarified. “You see this evidence with new private equity investments recently, especially during the COVID vaccine production period, CDMOs were one of the dominant players. We intend to bring these major players to highlight the growing opportunity in Saudi, and part of our role is in communicating that opportunity. It will be a journey though – we anticipate that in year one, these companies may attend to scope out event opportunities, do some matchmaking at curated sessions, and get to know local players and potential partnerships. Year two, these same companies might come to exhibit and understand that market more. Subsequent years, they might have established partnerships and the show will continue to help them evolve their presence here.” 

“In this region, CMOs and CDMOs might actually make more sense than in-house manufacturing, because you want to have the flexibility to have a broader product range,” Palme added. “I also want to point out that things are already moving. There was an announcement by Motorola at the beginning of last year about their partnership with Resilience to set up a manufacturing facility in Abu Dhabi. There was also an announcement by Farah, which is a newly founded pharma company, by the public investment fund to be partnering with a CMDO. There is already activity here and I think it will shift interest into these companies and region.” 

Hall also commented, “The market opportunity is here and now. We partner with the Events Investment Fund and their mission is to build new events infrastructure. That means new venues and new facilities to host world-class exhibitions at world-class exhibition centres. Challenges will arise, but we are quite aware of them, and we take them on and work to solve them. This is the first year we’ve been here and we’re learning a lot about how to optimise experiences and traffic flows.” 

The patients behind the discussions 

The panel discussion concluded with a question from an audience member questioning the application of the innovations and technologies being discussed at LEAP and manufacturing verticals discussed at CPHI events to the patient populations pharma hopes to help. “How can we come together, from the research to the marketing, to find our patient populations and keep them engaged?” they asked. 

“I think this is a fantastic question because CPHI as a brand has traditionally been focused more so on the manufacturing value chain, so has been a little more removed from the patient,” Dougal commented. “That being said, we all have one common goal in this industry, and that is to serve patients. Through our on-site content and thought leadership, we strive to put an emphasis on putting the patient first. We often invite patient advocates to speak and work collaboratively with drug developers and manufacturers to understand what their needs and challenges are. That will absolutely be a part of the content programme at CPHI Middle East as well.” 

Find out more about CPHI Middle East here.