• 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 & 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 10 leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have established regional headquarters in Singapore. They include AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genzyme, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Quintiles, Sanofi-Aventis and Schering-Plough. 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. Edward Holmes (former Vice Chancellor, University of California, San Diego), Judith Swain (University of California, San Diego), Edison Liu (former director of clinical sciences, National Cancer Institute, US), Neal Copeland and Nancy Jenkins (National Cancer Institute, US), Sir George Radda (former Chief Executive, Medical Research Council), Colin Blakemore (UK Medical Research Council), Axel Ulrich (Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Germany), Philippe Kourilsky (College de France, France), Sydney Brenner (Nobel Laureate, Salk Institute of Biological Sciences), and Yoshiaki Ito (University of Kyoto, Japan) are amongst the scientific leaders who have moved to Singapore to head the city-state?s research institutes, consortia and laboratories. Singapore is now home to more than 2,000 researchers from across the globe.


Singapore provides an enticing environment for professionals, and has been consistently ranked as Asia?s top city in terms of quality of life (Mercer HR; ECA International) and offers an excellent education system. The city-state is English-speaking, cosmopolitan with foreigners making up a quarter of the population, and offers a range of dynamic entertainment and recreation options. In 2008, Singapore hosted Formula One?s first night race during Singapore Grand Prix. Over the next two years, it will complete two integrated resorts that will host world-class hotel, convention, and entertainment facilities, and a casino in one location. These resorts are developed by Las Vegas Sands and Genting International. Singapore is also within a seven hour flight radius from the region?s top tourist destinations (e.g. Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Bali in Indonesia, Hua Hin and Phuket in Thailand, Shangri La in China).


Singapore also recognises the need to nurture the next generation of scientists. Since the year 2001, Singapore?s Agency for Science, Research and Technology (A*STAR) has launched a national scholarship programme that seeks to nurture 1,000 local PhD graduates in the world?s top universities by 2015. 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 (France) and Prabha Sampath (India) are 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 A*Star-NUS-Siemens Clinical Imaging Research Centre, two 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. In 2008, Singapore announced the setting up of Cancer Research Centre of Excellence (headed by Prof Daniel Tenen, Harvard Medical School) and the Centre for Translational Medicine that houses the medical faculty, bio-imaging and bio-safety facilities. These facilities will in turn support the growing community of clinician scientists in Singapore that centre on the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore.


More than 25 companies are carrying out R&D that straddles drug discovery, translational and clinical research.  They include GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Lilly, Takeda, CombinatoRx, S*Bio, MerLion Pharmaceuticals and PharmaLogicals.


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. Researchers are able 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.


Cafes, shops and amenities are located in the complex to create a 'work, live and play' environment to stimulate exchange of ideas amongst the researchers. The Biopolis, with about 2.4 million square feet of space, is almost completely taken up. Construction for Phase III commenced in April 2008. This will provide an additional 440,000 square feet of space for biomedical sciences R&D activities by end 2009.

Singapore has made significant inroads in biologics manufacturing, with Lonza, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Genentech announcing their investments to set up five major biologics facilities that amount to US$1.5 billion in capital expenditure within less than two years. This builds on the city state?s strong track record in both small-molecule active pharmaceutical ingredient and secondary manufacturing.


Today, 11 of the world?s top pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have invested in more than 25 commercial-scale manufacturing facilities in Singapore. They include Abbott, Alcon, Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, Lonza, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, Schering-Plough and Wyeth. These facilities are validated by regulatory authorities from the US and Europe, and 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, Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Lonza, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, Pfizer and Wyeth. 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. The recent launch of the Singapore Academy of GxP Excellence (SAGE) is a case in point. SAGE, a collaboration between the Singapore government, the National University of Singapore, and industry partners, is one of the first industry-wide training initiatives in the region and complements company specific training centres in Singapore.

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. The city-state is cosmopolitan, uses English (the language of science) as its lingua franca, and is strategically located at the heart of Asia within a seven-hour flight radius of other Asian cities. In addition, the city-state is well connected with key regional markets and its population comprises three key Asian ethnic groups: Chinese, Indians and Malays. Beyond geography and socio-cultural characteristics, 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 organizations.


For example, the Genome Institute of Singapore is taking the lead in cataloguing Asians? genetic diversity as the founding partner of HUGO?s Pan-Asian SNP Initiative.  Novartis Institute of Tropical Diseases (NITD) is partnering two Indonesian organizations, the Eijkman Institute and Hasanuddin University, to work on dengue and tuberculosis in Singapore. To enhance its drug development capabilities in Asia, AstraZeneca is collaborating with Singapore?s National Cancer Centre and National University Hospital (NUH) to develop anti-cancer compounds for inoperable Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC), a condition which is prevalent in Asia. 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.