Global biomedical sciences companies strengthened their partnerships with Singapore to address the industry’s challenges in 2009, and Singapore is well-positioned to be their home-base to harness Asia’s growing opportunities. Last year, Singapore’s biomedical manufacturing output grew steadily to about S$21 billion and employed more than 13,000 people.

“The global biomedical sciences industry is confronted with the need to improve R&D productivity. At the same time, they need to navigate Asia’s complexities and diversity to effectively tap into the region’s fast-growing markets. As Asia’s leading bio-cluster, Singapore is well-positioned to help biomedical sciences companies accelerate their innovation and capitalise on Asia’s growth story,” said Mr Julian Ho, Assistant Managing Director, Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB).

In 2009, global biomedical sciences companies have located strategic functions in Singapore that include regional headquarters (e.g. Medtronic, Quintiles, Takeda), first-in-Asia and global manufacturing facilities (e.g. GlaxoSmithKline, Illumina, Lonza, Medtronic, ResMed, Roche) and R&D bases in Asia (e.g. Abbott, 3M, Merck, Roche, Inviragen, FORMA).  These investments will strengthen Singapore’s position as a strategic home-base to drive biomedical sciences companies’ business expansion and innovation in Asia. 

Biomedical sciences investments amounted to S$1.2 billion in total fixed asset investment and S$700 million in total business spending in 2009. When fully implemented, they will create more than 1,600 jobs for professionals, managers, engineers, research scientists and engineers, and skilled workers. The investments will also contribute S$1.3 billion in value-added per annum.

“The biomedical sciences sector provides exciting and meaningful jobs in a broad spectrum of activities across manufacturing, R&D and business management in headquarters for Singaporeans across all education levels. It is an opportunity for Singaporeans to participate in shaping the future of human healthcare,” added Mr Ho.