Pall magnifies focus on Asia

Pall Corporation recently announced key initiatives to increase its commitment to the life sciences market in Asia. It has added leading industry experts and key executives to its regional team as part of the company's global initiative of aligning with customers worldwide. These initiatives include building a strong Pall infrastructure throughout the region and furthering the company's focus on India, China and Southeast Asia. Pall's biopharma business in Asia grew by 14 percent over the last fiscal year largely because of the solid foundation of expertise and technological capabilities built throughout the region. Pall will continue to look for ways to bring its industry-leading filtration, separation and purification products closer to customers and these newest initiatives reinforce its commitment to grow in Asia.

Holly Haughney, vice-president, Pall BioPharmaceuticals Marketing Asia and Vinay Joban, general manager, Pall Life Sciences India, share their thoughts on Pall's renewed focus and interest in Asia and India.

Holly Haughney, who has relocated to Bangalore, and in her new role, would manage the biopharmaceuticals marketing teams throughout Asia, including China, India, Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Taiwan. She will coordinate and foster communications within these areas and across the region working with product managers, application managers and the R&D teams. She is also responsible for developing relationships with key universities, regulatory authorities and industry groups in Asia. Vinay Joban will be responsible for expanding Pall Life Sciences' Indian operations.

How are you strengthening your India presence?

To meet technical and training needs, Pall is opening a new center of excellence in Bangalore this year. The versatile center will provide India's pharmaceutical, biotechnology and discovery marketplace with a full range of total fluid management solutions. It will include a state-of-the-art process proteomics lab designed specifically to help customers speed the discovery process, a training facility and a validation laboratory to meet the growing need for support as Indian companies enter the highly regulated drug export market.

What is your China focus?

In China, where Pall is already recognized as an industry leader with offices in Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Changchun and Shanghai, Dr Joe Gu joins as vice president, Pall Life Sciences China. Dr Gu is charged with leveraging the many opportunities afforded by the region, specifically in the economically fertile East China market. With plans to build a center of excellence in Shanghai this year, Pall will play an even larger role in advancing the market. By broadening its offerings and capabilities throughout China, the company can work closely with local customers to help them optimize operations, expedite process validation and participate in the transition to disposable processing.

The emerging opportunities in China are however not limited to the Yangtze region. Anticipating increases in demand, Pall is emphasizing both internal and customer training throughout China. The company's Storm program, for instance, offers technical seminars in all key biopharmaceutical production locations in China on a variety of topics ranging from sterilizing filtration to enhancing API production.

What are your initiatives in Southeast Asia and beyond?

Recent Pall initiatives in China and India further augment an infrastructure that includes offices throughout the Asia Pacific region, including Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Pall began operations in Southeast Asia in 1984, with the opening of an office in Singapore. Today, it continues to build on its strength in the region. In 2003, for example, a larger office was opened in Singapore, and last year we established a presence in Indonesia.

Hans-Peter Mueller, who is the regional manager, Pall BioPharmaceuticals Southeast Asia, moved to Singapore from Pall Germany in late 2004. More recently, that office added Hazelle Lam, a specialist in protein purification and chromatography, to serve as regional marketing manager, Pall BioPharmaceuticals Southeast Asia. Singapore has a very strong base of multinational API manufacturers and is quickly developing into an R&D and manufacturing hub for MAbs (monoclonal antibodies) and recombinant vaccines. Strong government support in the life sciences area in general also has been instrumental in furthering the market.

How do you see the opportunities in India and China?

Market growth in India and China, which are leading the charge in the emerging Asian pharmaceutical industry, was a major impetus behind several of the Pall programs. The Indian Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Market Annual Review (2005) reports that the Indian pharmaceutical industry is growing at the rate of nearly 9 percent annually. According to a report from The Golden Triangle Organization Inc., China's more than $20 billion pharmaceutical market will continue to experience double-digit growth rates till 2010.