SPEECH BY MR. TAN CHOON SHIAN, ASSISTANT MANAGING DIRECTOR, SINGAPORE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOARD, AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF LILLY SINGAPORE CENTRE FOR DRUG DISCOVERY ON 14 OCTOBER 2008, AT 10.30 AM, AT THE BIOPOLIS, IMMUNOS BUILDING

Mr Daniel Shields, Charge D’Affaires, US Embassy in Singapore,
Mdm Ho Geok Choo, Member of Parliament, West Coast GRC,
Dr William (Bill) Chin, Vice President, Discovery Research and Clinical Investigation,
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. Good morning. It gives me great pleasure to join you today for the opening of Lilly Singapore Centre for Drug Discovery at your new, expanded premises in the Biopolis.
   
   
2. Over the past few years, Lily has built up a complete suite of capabilities from upstream platform capabilities in computational biology, translational drug discovery research teams in oncology and metabolic diseases as well as Clinical Pharmacology for phase 1 clinical trials. Lilly now has all the pieces in play to become a translational research powerhouse in Singapore.
   
   
3. Lilly was the first pharmaceutical company to establish R&D operations in Singapore. Your announcement today therefore, has special significance to us. Lilly’s growth has mirrored Singapore’s own evolution in biomedical sciences research. Singapore started off by building up the Biopolis for basic research. It has since developed infrastructure for translational and clinical research. Recent developments include:
   
   • the establishment of Investigational Medicine Units at our public hospitals;
   • the Singapore Clinical Research Institute, which pools knowledge and capabilities in late-phase trials;
   • and Translational Research Flagship Programs which bring basic scientists and clinical researchers together to work on key diseases such as gastric cancer, metabolic diseases, schizophrenia and glaucoma.
     
4. The area of translational and clinical research requires intensive collaborations amongst partners. By co-locating research institutes and private-sector labs in one location, the Biopolis in Singapore presents an ideal location to forge strategic partnerships. In this regard, I believe Lilly’s move to the Biopolis will enable you to expand and intensify your relationships with the research community in Singapore, and discover novel ways to accelerate your drug discovery and development efforts. We look forward to a new phase of growth where Lilly@Biopolis will propel your corporate vision of becoming a true FIPNET – Fully Integrated Pharmaceutical Network.
   
   
5. My heartiest congratulations to the management and staff of Eli Lilly on the official opening of the Lilly Singapore Centre for Drug Discovery. Thank you.