International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)
After Münster in 1963, Hamburg in 1968 and Munich in 1989, Düsseldorf was the fourth town in Germany to host FIP's World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, which had its 75th anniversary in 2015. ABDA president Friedemann Schmidt was chair of the Local Host Committee (LHC). Some 3,000 participants discussed "Better practice - science based, evidence driven" in more than 200 sessions. Germany's pharmacists' annual meeting "Deutscher Apothekertag (DAT)" and expopharm, Europe's most important pharmaceutical trade fair, also took place at that time.
The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) is the global body representing pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, founded in 1912. With its 158 national organisations, academic institutional members and individual members, FIP represents over three million pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists around the world. Through its partnerships and its extensive global pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences network, FIP works to support the development of the pharmacy profession in order to meet the world’s healthcare needs and expectations.
The ABDA - Federal Union of German Associations of Pharmacists is the umbrella organisation of almost 70,000 pharmacists and 17,000 community pharmacies in Germany. In 1951, ABDA became a member of FIP. Until now, former head of the Central Laboratory of German Pharmacists Dr. Dieter Steinbach has been Germany's only FIP president from 1994 to 1998. However, ABDA has been an active FIP member for many years.