API competition↑ with entry of Chinese and Indian pharmas

Pharmaceutical companies from China and India seek to enter Korea’s market

CPHI Korea was held from 26th-28th in Samseong-dong, Seoul…340 companies participated in the event

More than half of the participants were Chinese and Indian companies... Puts price competitiveness at the forefront

Domestic companies such as Innist ST Samoh Pharm, Suheung, Novarex, etc. also participated in the event

Chinese and Indian companies developing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are accelerating their entry into Korea.

 

Numerous Chinese and Indian companies as well as domestic companies participated in 'CPHI Korea 2024,' an exhibition for the global pharmaceutical, bio, and health functional food industry that was held at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul for 3 days from the 27th, to promote their API development capabilities.

 

Domestic companies also participated in the event to showcase their technology.

 

Domestic API companies highlighted the quality of their products as a strategy to differentiate themselves from overseas companies.

 

A large number of Chinese and Indian API companies participate in CPHI China was the largest participating country at CPHI Korea 2024.

 

More than 140 Chinese pharma and biotech companies participated in the event, which accounted for almost half of the 340 exhibitors.

 

(Clockwise from the top left) Jiangxi Synergy, Bloomage Biotechnology, Zhejiang Biosan, Hubei Honch Pharmaceutical, Xieli Pharmaceutical from China

As China supplies nearly half of the world's APIs, these companies are highly influential in the API market.

 

Korea also imports the largest amount of APIs from China.

 

These companies plan to actively target the domestic market to further increase their influence in Korea.

 

China has been turning its eye to markets outside the U.S.

 

after the U.S.

 

strengthened sanctions against China.

 

The U.S.

 

has been implementing biosecurity legislation that would ban Chinese biotech companies from doing business with the U.S., favoring its own biotech companies.

 

In response, Chinese companies have been eyeing the Korean market, which was why many Chinese companies participated in BIO KOREA 2024 in May to promote their company and technologies.

 

The second largest overseas participant after China was India.

 

India owns the second-largest API market following China.

 

India accounts for 20% of the world's supply of APIs.

 

India's pharmaceutical industry has been growing rapidly, focusing on biopharmaceuticals and contract development manufacturing organizations

(From the left) Krishna Enzytech, Ashwagandha, Anupam Rasayan, Oceanic Pharmachem from India

Various API, health functional food, and additive developers such as Krishna Enzytech, KSM-66 Ashwagandha, Anupam Rasayan, and Oceanic Pharmachem attended the event.

 

In particular, the health functional food company Ashwagandha, participated as a title sponsor of the event.

 

Korean API companies, including Novarex and Samoh Pharm participated at the event..."secured competitivity with quality" Many domestic companies also participated in CPHI Korea 2024.

 

The second largest amount of companies that participated in the event were Korean companies, following China.

 

Kukjeon Pharmaceutical, Samoh Pharm, Inist ST, Seoheung, and Novarex, among others, promoted their technologies for developing various APIs.

 

(Clockwise from top left) Inist ST, Rihu Healthcare, Samoh Pharm, Suheung from Korea

Domestic companies expressed high hopes based on the quality of their products.

 

Currently, China and India dominate the global API market.

 

Korea also imports most of its APIs from these countries.

 

The problem is that domestic synthetic drugs are significantly less competitive in price than their Chinese and Indian counterparts, and the high dependence on overseas APIs limits the opportunities for domestic companies.

 

“It is virtually impossible to keep up with China and India in terms of price competitiveness,” said an official from a domestic API company.

 

“Domestic companies need to differentiate themselves in quality through superior manufacturing facilities and quality development capabilities to stand a chance.” However, the government's support is urgently needed to overcome the price competitiveness of overseas companies, and the industry's opinion is that no significant policies have been implemented up to now.

 

The government's policy direction seeks to advance the self-sufficiency rate of APIs for pharmaceuticals, but the policies have not shown a significant impact until now.

 

In particular, there has been a history of disruptions in the production of essential medicines due to difficulties in the supply of raw materials, including the deployment of THAAD, the valsartan crisis, COVID-19, and trade wars, but even after the pandemic turned endemic, the self-sufficiency rate of APIs has not improved.

 

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, 31 of the 567 finished drugs reported to have been suspended from production, import, and supply from 2017 to June 2022 due to problems in the supply of APIs.

 

17 of these were national essential medicines.

 

“To compete not only with the U.S.

 

and Europe, but also with China, India, and Southeast Asia, that own prices competitivity, we need support policies at the finished drug level,” said an official from another domestic API company.

 

”The government has not clearly presented measures to support for self-sufficiency of APIs in Korea.

 

The goal should not be to maintain a certain level of self-sufficiency, but to support the domestic pharmaceutical industry to compete with the global market.”