Global pharma giants partner Singapore researchers to boost innovation in biologics and vaccines manufacturing

“New opportunities will emerge as the biomanufacturing industry undergoes major changes brought about by the rapid pace of digitalisation, Industry 4.0, and the need for greater sustainability. As Singapore makes biopharma production a priority area in its Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 Plan, A*STAR aims to contribute our R&D capabilities through BioPIPS to help make the local biomanufacturing industry become more agile and better positioned to benefit from new products and technologies.”

“Riding on the success of PIPS, BioPIPS aims to enhance Singapore’s innovation capabilities in biologics and vaccines manufacturing by leveraging the strengths of our leading pharmaceutical companies and institutes of higher learning. The programme will develop highly productive, sustainable and advanced production technologies and solutions. We look forward to deepening partnerships with like-minded companies to strengthen Singapore’s position as a global biopharma manufacturing hub.”

“By collaborating to tackle common challenges, we can leverage diverse skills and capabilities to create a sustainable manufacturing environment in Singapore. We also look forward to developing new ways to monitor and control our processes and automate our manufacturing operations.”

“Sanofi is building a next generation manufacturing site, the EVolutive Facility, in Singapore, which will bring advanced digital and modular vaccine production capabilities to the Asia region. The BioPIPS programme’s focus on transforming biologics and vaccines manufacturing through pre-competitive partnerships is aligned with Sanofi’s vision for the EVolutive Facility, to continuously push the envelope of innovation for biopharmaceutical manufacturing.”

“The objectives of BioPIPS are aligned to Takeda’s ambitions of being net carbon zero in our operations by 2035 and how we can tap on data, digital and technology to transform our manufacturing site. We look forward to this partnership with Singapore’s research ecosystem to further strengthen our capabilities, and discover new and sustainable ways to develop and manufacture innovative medicine to deliver on Takeda’s commitment to Patient, People and Planet.”

“NUS is delighted to be a member of BioPIPS, contributing our capabilities in areas such as biocatalysis, reactor manufacturing, and digital factory. By leveraging the complementary strengths of A*STAR, EDB, the academia and the pharmaceutical industry, we can create a strong technology foundation for innovations that will bring about compelling improvements in productivity, operational efficiency and sustainability practices in Singapore’s biopharma manufacturing sector.”

“The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for the biomanufacturing industry to be innovative and agile when dealing with challenges, including future pandemics and disease outbreaks. At the NTU Smart Campus, our scientists have been pioneering advanced solutions such as breathalysers that can detect Covid-19 in two minutes and a semi-autonomous robot that can disinfect surfaces.

Such groundbreaking research underlines our commitment to the NTU 2025 strategic plan that aims to solve some of humanity’s grand challenges, including addressing the needs and challenges of healthy Page 4 of 5 living and ageing. With our strengths in interdisciplinary research and innovation, we hope to play our part to bolster the sector’s manufacturing productivity and operational efficiency in a sustainable manner. We look forward to achieving meaningful results with our partners through this national consortium.”

“SIT is excited to be part of BioPIPS, which will inject next-generation process innovation into the local pharmaceutical industry. This partnership will allow SIT to strengthen its applied research capabilities in sustainable biopharma manufacturing technologies. Under this initiative, SIT will explore opportunities to work with manufacturers to apply digitalisation for process optimisation and better regulatory oversight while incorporating environmental considerations to progress production processes for the pharmaceutical industry.”