Focused on innovative solutions for environmental health, food safety and drug discovery, the new Centre of Excellence aims to provide greater quality, affordable healthcare in the region.
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Anthony Fernando, Director R&D and CoE Leader, Asia, PerkinElmer, Inc., addressing the audience at the PerkinElmer Centre of Excellence launch.
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The name PerkinElmer is synonymous with strong life sciences research and clinical analysis. A global leader in Health and Analytical Sciences, PerkinElmer first established itself in the city-state back in the 1980s. Over the last two decades, the PerkinElmer Singapore Life and Analytical Sciences (LAS) Unit has progressed from manufacturing a single product to a range of product lines.
More recently, the company expanded its Singapore operations with the new PerkinElmer Inc. Centre of Excellence. Serving as a base for PerkinElmer's R&D efforts in Asia, the Centre, located within the company's existing facility in Ayer Rajah Crescent, will focus on the development of new precision instrumentation and chemistries for a range of scientific and industrial laboratory applications, including drug discovery and development, environmental monitoring, food safety and sustainable energy. Singapore's world-class science-driven environment, strong infrastructure and talent pool made it a clear choice for PerkinElmer to base its regional Centre of Excellence here.
"The opening of the PerkinElmer Inc. Centre of Excellence in Singapore builds on our efforts to make significant and long-term investments in Asia-Pacific to support the expansion of the health and environmental infrastructures of nations throughout the region," says Dr Daniel R. Marshak, Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, PerkinElmer, Inc. "This investment will leverage in-country expertise and resources to drive the development of new, innovative solutions to meet the changing needs of our local and global customers."
These cutting-edge developments include the manufacturing of instruments for atomic absorption spectroscopy and UV/Visible spectroscopy to detect both inorganic and organic materials in the environment, food, materials, and oil industries. In addition, the new facility will provide R&D support for the expansion of PerkinElmer's EcoAnalytix solutions family, a revolutionary problem-solving initiative that addresses the global imperatives of food and consumer product safety, water quality and sustainable energy development.
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"The products that will be researched and developed here in Singapore will impact every aspect of our lives, from systems to test the safety of water we drink and the quality of the air we breathe, to technology that may help to identify a new medication to cure a disease."
- Richard Begley, President, Analytical Sciences, PerkinElmer, Inc.
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Centre For Growth
For PerkinElmer, the opening of the Centre is a strategic move designed to harness Asia's potential as a key growth region in a range of areas, from pharmaceutical research and neonatal and prenatal screening to environmental monitoring.
This is no small projection. According to a United Nation's report, Asia's population is expected to increase from 3.7 to 5.3 billion by 2050. With rising affluence comes greater attention to personal health and well-being, and a bigger demand for better quality healthcare.
This presents tremendous opportunities as well as challenges for the global biomedical sciences industry. While biomedical sciences companies are in a race to develop new solutions for unmet clinical and market needs, there is also intense pressure to keep developmental costs competitive. Raising productivity and R&D cost effectiveness have become critical for these companies.
In view of this, PerkinElmer's entry is timely and welcomed by the scientific community in Singapore. "The R&D centre provides a platform for PerkinElmer to work with public research centres and global biopharmaceutical companies to develop and innovate new tools and applications to support the biomedical sciences research in Singapore," says Aw Kah Peng, Assistant Managing Director, Industry Development, Singapore Economic Development Board.
Singapore - A Key Biomedical Sciences Hub
Ultimately, these capabilities fit into Singapore's overall strategy to become an advanced, highly productive and cost-effective biomedical sciences research and healthcare hub in both developed and emerging markets. One area in which the government has made significant investments in is Translational Clinical Research (TCR), where laboratory discoveries are brought to the patient, leading to improved - as well as accessible and affordable - healthcare.
To continue driving the success of Singapore's TCR initiative, Aw says Singapore will remain committed to facilitating greater research collaborations between biopharmaceutical companies, medical technology companies, hospitals and public research institutes.
In the greater scheme of things, the Centre will no doubt be a key cog in Singapore's plans to be a global biomedical hub. Says Richard Begley, President, Analytical Sciences, PerkinElmer, Inc., "The products that will be researched and developed here in Singapore will impact every aspect of our lives, from systems to test the safety of water we drink and the quality of the air we breathe, to technology that may help to identify a new medication to cure a disease."
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