Strengthening the Bangladesh pharma manufacturing capabilities

ASIA PHARMA EXPO 2024 exhibition celebrating successful 22 years in Bangladesh oﬀered business opportunities to 658 companies from 32 countries

The ASIA PHARMA EXPO 2023 (APE 2023) & ASIA LAB EXPO, international exhibitions on COMPLETE pharma manufacturing technologies concluded at ICCB, Dhaka.Bangladesh. The 3-days Exhibition was held in Dhaka. The Exhibition celebrated 21 highly successful years in Bangladesh and helping to develop the pharmaceutical industry of Bangladesh and making significant contribution to Bangladesh economy.

BAPI President, Nazmul Hassan, MP inaugurated the exposition as the Chief Guest. Director General of Drug Administration (DGDA) Major General Mohammad Yousuf was the Special Guest. Mr Ravi Uday Bhaskar, Director General, PHARMEXCIL was the Guest of Honour alongside the high oﬃcials from various pharma companies.

Mr. Nazmul Hassan, the President of the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI) and CEO of Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BPL) inaugurated the 3- day exhibition on March 2, 2023, in Dhaka. In his inaugural ceremony speech, Mr. Nazmul Hassan said, “The price of medicine hasn’t increased much compared to our production expenses. Besides, you cannot just hike medicine prices as we must consider people’s purchasing power. So, we all must work together to provide quality medicines at low prices in diﬃcult times. Sri Lanka and Pakistan are suﬀering from a shortage of drugs. Bangladesh is in a much better situation than them. By working together, we will be able to overcome this diﬃcult situation. Despite the tough times, the pharma industry grew by 12-15% last year. We are trying to ensure that there is no shortage in the supply of medicines,” the BAPI president added.

Major General Mohammad Yousuf, DG of the Directorate General of Drug Administration, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, attending the event as the Special Guest, said, “Providing drugs at low cost is a big challenge for us now. Despite the increase in material prices, the price of medicines has not gone up that much.”

Echoing the same, BAPI Vice President Mr. A. Mukadir said, “We need to increase our exports to save foreign exchange. Also, if API raw materials are produced locally, we will be able to save more, and we are going in that direction.”

More than 658 Exhibiting Companies
from 32 countries, including – USA, Germany, France, Singapore,
The Netherlands, China, Japan, Taiwan,
Thailand, India, UAE, Vietnam, South Korea
12,000+ Trade Visitors

Mr. Marcel Menhorn (Area Sales Manager), Bausch+Ströbel SE+Co. KG, Germany; Mr. Oliver Patat (Regional Sales Director) TEREOS, France; Mr. PH Vachhrajani (Sr Vice President) CADMACH MACHINERY CO. PVT. LTD., India; Mr. Luca Cevenini (Area Manager) MARCHESINI Group S.p.A., Italy – some of the international exhibitors – shared their views during the Opening Ceremony and recognized the importance and promising future growth of the Bangladesh pharma manufacturing industry.

Organisers informed that high-speed machinery, latest innovations, newer technologies, and export-oriented production machinery were the main attractions for the trade visitors.

According to Mr Aasif Ahsan Khan, founder of PodTech Lifecare & G7 Universal, a UAE-based entity, said the expo was a successful. “We’re making this tech aﬀordable and accessible to anyone looking to rapidly build or scale biopharma manufacturing capability.” He lauded BAPI’s proactive role in helping the pharmaceutical industry grow faster. More trained and skilled manpower should be built up to uplift the industry, he added.

Mr. Isa Khan, Associate Director of Saka International, who had the largest pavilion in the Expo, informed that among their 27 partners, two companies from Italy and UAE exhibited in 2023 for the first time in the ASIA PHARMA EXPO Exhibition. “They show interest in participating in the Expo next year, seeing the huge potential of the drug market in Bangladesh.” Asked about the products with high demand, as they were showcasing a good range of products, he said, “It’s diﬃcult to name one. But machines with the latest technologies for smooth operation are having the most queries.”

The major attraction at the Exhibition was the Innovation Pavilion, where UAE based company – PodTech Lifecare displayed plug-and-play pre- engineered, pre-fabricated, pre-validated portable biopharma factory systems which help swiftly scaling up local pharmaceutical manufacturing to guarantee the aﬀordability and availability of essential medicines.

Mr Ingo H Kusel, Area Sales Manager of German company LB BOHLE, shared his experience while exhibiting at the ASIA PHARMA EXPO 2023 that the good sign was that all the people were experiencing the technologies in person, not in digital means. “For the pharma sector in Bangladesh, the good sign is that they are demanding for the products to be shifted to quality machines. Demands are showing that the clients in Bangladesh are focusing on exports as their future plan. But there is a crisis, not only for Bangladesh, but also for the global ones, so the country needs to find a way so that the growth of the sector could not be halted”, he added.

One of the co-organisers, Mr. Paresh Jhurmarvala, GPE EXPO PVT LTD, said that all the foreign exhibitors expressed their satisfaction with a huge response from the visitors. “Over 12,000 people have visited the expo. It ushers in new hope as the whole world is now recovering from the Covid-19 crisis. Bangladesh’s pharma sector is getting recognised worldwide, and more companies want to participate in the Expo.”

At ASIA PHARMA EXPO 2023 / ASIA LAB EXPO 2023, more than 658 exhibiting companies from 32 countries, including the USA, Germany, France, Singapore, The Netherlands, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, India, UAE, Vietnam, South Korea took part in the exposition and showcased various products, including technology, parts and machines and raw materials and their latest products/services to upgrade the pharma manufacturing standards of Bangladesh to a newer height. The 2023 edition was attended by more than 12,000 trade visitors to explore the complete spectrum of the latest pharma manufacturing technologies & services.

The next edition of the 15th ASIA PHARMA EXPO & ASIA LAB EXPO 2024 is scheduled for February 29th to March 2nd, 2024, at a bigger venue, Bangabandhu Bangladesh China Friendship Exhibition Center (BBCFEC), where more than 670+ exhibitors are expected from more than 32 countries. With this in mind, the forthcoming edition will be the biggest ASIA PHARMA EXPO to date and is expecting more than 13000 trade visitors not only from Bangladesh but other parts of South Asia as well.

ASIA PHARMA EXPO and ASIA LAB EXPO – international exhibitions being jointly organized by the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries and GPE EXPO PVT LTD in Dhaka, Bangladesh since 2003, oﬀering an unparalleled international business and technologies platform specifically to the entrepreneurs and corporate giants manufacturing and exporting the pharma medicines globally. The exhibitions nurture growth by empowering the local pharma and allied manufacturing industries on technological aspects to scale up manufacturing practices. An overwhelming response by the local Business Associates, as well as technology solution providers from outside Bangladesh, was noticed.

In brief: Bangladesh pharma manufacturing industry:The pharmaceutical sector of Bangladesh is progressing in multifold. Apart from meeting the domestic demands of pharma formulations, the pharma industry is also earning huge foreign exchange from exports. With an existing market value of about USD 3 billion, the Bangladesh pharma manufacturing industry is rapidly marching ahead with great potential as 98% of the country’s total demand for medicine is being met by nearly 300 domestic manufacturers, which is a milestone in the history of the Bangladesh pharmaceutical industry. At the same time, these local manufacturers are exporting as well to more than 127 countries across the world.

The anticipated market size of the Bangladesh pharmaceutical industry is more than USD 6 billion by 2025, with an absolute growth of 114% from 2019 levels, while the pharma exports of Bangladesh are likely to cross USD 450 million by 2025. The share of the local manufacturing companies is above 90%.

The pharmaceutical industry has already been announced as a promising sector by the Hon. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina since it is contributing much to the improvement of the country’s economic growth. Bangladesh has undoubtedly emerged as one of the fastest growing pharma-economy in global markets, and the momentum of growth further accelerated by 17 years long extension till year 2033 by WTO / TRIPs to continue the patented pharma formulations.

An encouraging development is more than 47 units at API Manufacturing Park are coming up near Dhaka. For more information about the Exhibition, please visit: www.AsiaPharma.org OR email to mail@AsiaPharma.org.