In a strongly growing market like that of generic drugs (characterized by the lack of patent protection for the active ingredient and for the finished product), the aggressiveness of new competitors from China and India is becoming more and more apparent, with their highly competitive prices and ever-increasing quality, even if it is not comparable to that of European manufacturers.

About 80% of all APIs and intermediates consumed in Europe are imported from India and Cina. The facilities of such lower prices APIs suppliers are till now rarely inspected by EU Authorities. To work without complying GMP rules gives a cost reduction of 25%, according to some calculations. It's important to underline that this behaviour increases the risk for the human health, reducing the safety of drugs. Traditional exhibitions are increasingly an opportunity for these new producers to widen their own visibility and to conquer market share. These events were created for a select number of high-quality manufacturers and are lowering quality and do not allow European firms to demonstrate their excellence to international customers. There is, as a result, the real threat that Asian production will occupy ever greater shares of the primary markets thereby restricting the development of European production, marginalizing it, and creating a crisis in such an important sector of the European economy.