• Asia Presents New Growth Opportunities
• Trusted Base to Tap on Asia's Opportunities
• Accessing Global Talents
• Accelerating Drug Discovery
• Plug & Play R&D Campus
• Manufacturing New Medicines
• Forging Strategic Partnerships

Asia is fast emerging as a global powerhouse in the biomedical sciences industry, given the sheer growth of its market, and the size of its talent and resource base. While Asia presents a dynamic and fresh playing field that offers tremendous opportunities for those who dare to think differently, its diversity in political systems, culture and economic development constitute challenging new ground. Success will thus depend on an in-depth understanding of local conditions and regulatory regimes.

Singapore plays an important role in helping companies to navigate Asia's complexities and tap into the region’s market, talent and intellectual properties.

The cosmopolitan city-state offers the best quality of life in Asia and has been a magnet for both global and regional talent. More than 30 leading biomedical sciences companies have established regional headquarters in Singapore. They include Abbott, Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genzyme, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Quintiles, Roche, Sanofi, Takeda, Eisai and Servier. In addition, the city-state has developed into one of Asia's fastest-growing bio-clusters that present strategic partnership opportunities with research institutes, corporate labs and public hospitals to develop new medicines for regional and global markets. Furthermore, the city-state has established its position as a leading global manufacturing site for innovative medicines.

Singapore is well-known for its ability to attract the world's top scientific and business talents. On top of home-grown talent such as Soo Khee Chee (Founding Director, National Cancer Centre), Wong Tien Yin (Director, Singapore Eye Research Institute), Toh Han Chong (National Cancer Centre), Goh Boon Cher (The Cancer Institute) and Donald Tan (Director, Singapore National Eye Centre), Singapore is now also home to international leaders who have moved to Singapore to head the city-state's research institutes, consortia and laboratories, such as Edward Holmes (former Vice Chancellor, University of California, San Diego), Judith Swain (University of California, San Diego), Sir George Radda (former Chief Executive, Medical Research Council), Colin Blakemore (UK Medical Research Council), Jackie Ying (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Axel Ulrich (Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Germany), Philippe Kourilsky (College de France, France), Sydney Brenner (Nobel Laureate, Salk Institute of Biological Sciences), Yoshiaki Ito (University of Kyoto, Japan) and Stephen Smith (former Principal of the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College). In addition, top clinical research talent such as Ranga R. Krishnan (Dean, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School), Michael Hayden (Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics), Naoki Yamamoto (National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan) and Nicholas Paton (UK Medical Research Council’s Clinical Trials Unit) are based in Singapore and contribute to the thriving research environment here. Singapore is now home to more than 6,000 researchers from across the globe.

Singapore recognises the need to nurture the next generation of scientists. Since the year 2001, Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) has launched a national scholarship programme that seeks to nurture 1,000 local PhD graduates in the world's top universities. A*STAR has awarded about 800 national scholarships to date. Earlier this year, Singapore also launched the A*STAR Investigatorship (A*I) award, which was modeled after the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigatorship award, to attract bright young researchers to carry out independent research in Singapore's public-sector research institutes. Bruno Reversade (Institute of Medical Biology) and Prabha Sampath (Institute of Medical Biology) were the first recipients of the award. They will be working on human embryology and stem cell research respectively. Reversade was formerly with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, while Sampath was from the University of Washington.

 

Singapore has built up a strong scientific foundation with seven research institutes and five research consortia in key fields that include clinical sciences, genomics, bioengineering, molecular/cell biology, medical biology, bioimaging and immunology. Prominent international research institutes are working with these research institutes in Singapore. They include Liggins Institute (for epigenetic study of metabolic diseases) and American Association for Cancer Research.


Singapore has also made significant progress in translational and clinical research. It has built up key infrastructure such as the Investigational Medicine Units dedicated for early-phase trials in public hospitals, as well as the Singapore Clinical Research Institute, which focuses on supporting later-stage trials. These facilities will in turn support the growing community of clinician scientists in Singapore.


More than 50 companies are carrying out biomedical sciences R&D that includes drug discovery, translational and clinical research.  They include Abbott, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, Chugai Pharmaceutical, Roche, Takeda, FORMA Therapeutics, MerLion Pharmaceuticals, PharmaLogicals and Aslan Pharmaceuticals. Home-grown Aslan Pharmaceuticals signed an agreement with US Bristol-Myers Squibb (B-MS) to develop one of its major investigational cancer compounds.


In the years ahead, as Singapore builds on its foundation in good science and capabilities in translational and clinical research, the city-state is well positioned to support the industry in its efforts to accelerate the drug discovery process with next-generation technologies, while focusing on key diseases such as cancer, metabolic diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, infectious diseases and eye diseases.

 

The Biopolis is the hallmark of Singapore's R&D success. It co-locates public sector research institutes with corporate labs and is designed to foster a collaborative culture among the institutions and organisations under its roof. At Biopolis, scientists, technoprenuers and researchers meet, forge partnerships and grow with renowned scientific institutions, through intensive research and graduate training programmes.

The Biopolis enables researchers to access state-of-the-art facilities, scientific infrastructure and specialised services. These allow companies to cut R&D costs significantly and accelerate the development timeline. In addition, there are conference facilities and meeting rooms that companies can use. By 2013, the Biopolis will provide more than 3.3 million square feet of space for biomedical sciences R&D activities. 

Singapore has made significant inroads in biologics manufacturing, with Baxter, Lonza, GlaxoSmithKline and Roche announcing their investments to set up major biologics facilities that amount to US$2 billion in capital expenditure. Lonza announced an expansion of its biopharma development services in Singapore to development processes for clients from preclinical to commercial-scale by 2012. Merck, Sharpe & Dohme announced its investment of over US$250 million over the next 10 years to expand its manufacturing operations, including technology to support new product launches. This builds on the city state's strong track record in both small-molecule active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing.


Today, 7 of the world's top pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have invested in 30 commercial-scale manufacturing facilities in Singapore. They include Abbott, GlaxoSmithKline, Lonza, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche and Sanofi. Validated by regulatory authorities from the US, Europe and Japan, these plants produce innovative medicines for the global market.

 

Singapore offers excellent intellectual property protection, sophisticated infrastructure and a skilled manpower base to drive process development and support the commercial-scale production of the industry's most innovative products.


In addition, the city-state offers a stable political and civic environment to ensure long-term returns for global manufacturers' capital-intensive investments. The government has set aside a 360-hectare stretch of ready-prepared and specifically-zoned land, called Tuas Biomedical Park (TBP), for pharmaceutical and biologics manufacturing. Equipped with established infrastructure such as roads, drainage systems, power, water supply, and telecommunication lines, TBP presents a plug-and-play environment that enables leading biomedical sciences companies to set up manufacturing facilities here with minimal lead time. These companies can also leverage on third-party utilities and services such as steam, natural gas, chilled water and waste treatment. TBP is currently home to leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical technology companies such as Abbott, Alcon, CIBA Vision, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Lonza, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, Pfizer and Roche. These companies have collectively invested over S$6 billion to set up manufacturing facilities in TBP.


The government is committed to working with the industry to upgrade employees' skills, train new workers and promote best practices. Through the Biopharmaceutical Manufacturers' Advisory Council (BMAC), an industry-government group of the local pharmaceutical plant site directors and government agencies, Singapore is committed to leading the manufacturing curve with a highly-skilled manufacturing workforce, a track record of quality and process development capabilities.

Singapore presents a stellar bio-cluster in Asia that has established a strong track record and foundation in biomedical sciences manufacturing and R&D activities. In addition, Singapore provides diverse partnership opportunities with its public-sector research institutes, base of leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, clinical-research units in hospitals and international research organisations.


For example, Roche established its Singapore Hub for Translational Medicine (CHF 100 million) of 30 scientists to integrate world-class expertise from across Singapore's scientific and medical institutions to generate insights into disease biology to accelerate drug discovery and development. Bayer Healthcare announced an additional S$14.5 million investment in five projects with local academic institutions to advance R&D to improve early diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Additionally, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) established its first Academic Centre of Excellence in Singapore and its first four projects focusing on early-stage research in ophthalmology, regenerative medicine and neuro-degeneration to elucidate new mechanisms of action for innovative medicines.

Today, Singapore has established world-class scientific and clinical excellence that enables pre-clinical development in mouse models and early-phase clinical testing of novel drug candidates to be carried out in one location. In 2011, Maccine inked a collaboration with A*STAR's Singapore Bioimaging Consortium to form a comprehensive Translational Imaging Industrial Lab (TIIL) to push the boundaries in state-of-the-art preclinical imaging to enhance the drug development process. The Singapore Clinical Research Institute (SCRI) launched and now leads the Singapore Biomedical R&D Consortium, comprising Dx assays, A*STAR’s Experimental Therapeutics Centre, Maccine, MerLion Pharmaceuticals and PWG Genetics, to provide a depth of integrated services from early product development, preclinical to late-phase clinical research in partnership with companies.

In 2011, Singapore's Health Sciences Authority (HSA) joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT's) Center for Biomedical Innovation and five companies - Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, Life Technologies, Pfizer and Quintiles - in its NEWDiGS (NEW Drug Development ParadIGmS) programme for demonstration projects in regulatory science and oncology innovation. NEWDIGS will evaluate components of more flexible, adaptive regulatory models with an initial focus on Progressive Authorization.