How Singapore is a launchpad to growth for global biotech and pharmaceutical companies

Global pharma companies are looking to Asia for innovation as they consider what’s next to bolster their pipelines, including sourcing of "Best-in-Class" and "First-in-Class" assets that are high quality, robust, pre-clinical, and built on human data.

At the same time, biotech firms are looking to expand beyond their home markets and test their innovations across diverse patient populations in countries like Australia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the rest of Southeast Asia.

At the 2025 BIO Asia Regional Collaboration Summit held in Taiwan, EDB’s Senior Vice President for Healthcare Goh Wan Yee, spoke about how Singapore is emerging as a global innovation hub in the region’s biotech industry. Dr Koh Boon Tong, executive director and chief industry officer at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), highlighted how Singapore supports new biomanufacturing technologies for next-generation treatments.

Here are key insights from the Singapore speakers at the 2025 BIO Asia Regional Collaboration Forum in Taiwan: 
 

1. Singapore as Asia’s biotech launchpad

In 2024, Asia proved itself as the hub of global innovation, filing seven out of every 10 patent applications worldwide.¹ Between 2019 and 2024, Asia’s share of innovative pipelines has increased by 7 per cent per year, constituting 40 per cent of global innovative drug pipelines² – comparable with the United States – with one-fifth focused on new modalities.

Within this dynamic Asian landscape, Singapore has established itself as a leading and trusted node for biotech innovation. The city-state hosts regional headquarters for eight of the top 10 major pharmaceutical companies³, including Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer.

Singapore has also built deep research capabilities in Asian biology, around areas such as oncology, cardiovascular disease, ophthalmology, and skin and infectious diseases. This has given rise to a vibrant ecosystem in Singapore which saw a fourfold increase in locally incorporated biotech companies since 2015.⁴

This ecosystem today encourages collaboration to accelerate drug development and improve health outcomes.

Japanese pharma company Chugai exemplifies how companies have utilised Singapore’s biomedical sciences ecosystem to accelerate discovery and approval processes. For its next-generation anti-C5 antibody, which targets a rare, life-threatening blood disorder, Chugai’s Singapore research team worked closely with multidisciplinary scientists at A*STAR to accelerate drug discovery. A process that typically takes 10 to 15 years was shortened to approximately three years.

2. Advancing next-generation therapeutics – Multi-specific antibodies, conjugates, cell and gene therapy, and nucleic acid therapy

Singapore is rapidly advancing the development of next-generation therapies – sophisticated, precision medicines that target diseases more accurately. 

Companies like AstraZeneca are tapping Singapore’s excellence in complex manufacturing and investing US$1.5 billion (S$2 billion) in an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) facility in Singapore. It is the company’s first-ever facility to cover the end-to-end manufacturing process for ADCs – a cancer therapy that allows cancer-killing drugs to be precisely delivered to cancer cells.

Singapore has also established national platforms that support the translation of early-stage biomedical research and development (R&D) into clinically relevant products, with these programmes open for partnerships with private companies.

A prime example is the Nucleic Acid Therapeutics Initiative (NATi) mRNA Biofoundry – the Asia's first facility capable of producing gram-scale quantities of mRNA therapeutics and vaccines. 

Singapore’s strong research core, manufacturing excellence, and regional networks and reputation, have proved a winning combination for companies to tap the ecosystem for developing and manufacturing of next-generation therapeutics.

3. Companies are looking to win globally by investing in deep technologies upstream, and pursuing public-private partnerships

In Singapore, the biomedical ecosystem thrives on partnerships between industry and academia or public organisations, to create mutual value.

For example, the National University of Singapore (NUS)-Agilent Hub for Translation & Capture represents a US$29 million integrated translational R&D centre that develops more accurate clinical diagnostics methods for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Johnson & Johnson's JLABS Singapore accelerates early-stage discoveries into innovative medicines while working closely with local incubators and strategic partners.

These partnerships demonstrate how Singapore enables companies to access local research capabilities while contributing to the broader innovation ecosystem.

Singapore as a stable base, and a gateway to global markets

Singapore began building its biomedical sciences ecosystem over 20 years ago. Today, it is home to the regional headquarters of over 80 leading companies and also has 60 manufacturing plants and 30 R&D centres. Biomedical manufacturing is a key pillar of Singapore’s diversified manufacturing industry, generating S$38.1 billion in output in 2023.

Singapore ranks among the top five globally for intellectual property protection and benefits from a robust regulatory process overseen by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA). In 2022, Singapore’s HSA achieved Maturity Level 4 for its advanced medicines regulatory system – the highest level of regulatory excellence recognised by the World Health Organisation⁶. For biotech firms, approval in Singapore serves as a stepping stone to major global markets, significantly reducing time-to-market for global trials and launch.

As healthcare challenges become more complex and next-generation therapeutics require increasingly sophisticated approaches, success depends on collaboration across institutions, disciplines, and borders. Singapore’s biomedical ecosystem has been built on this approach, with practical frameworks where government platforms, multinational companies, research institutes, and startups can work as interconnected nodes. 

Find out how your business can tap into Singapore’s base of skilled biomedical talent, world-class manufacturing capabilities, and R&D ecosystem here.
 

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Footnote: 

¹ World Intellectual Property Indicators 2025: Highlights - Patents highlights. (2025). World Intellectual Property Indicators 2025: Highlights. Accessed 18 November 2025.

² McKinsey & Company. (2024). Asia Biopharma Innovation – on the cusp of a new era?

³ By FY2023 Revenue

⁴ Sunderland, S., Sarkar, S., & Wang, W. (2025). Unlocking Growth: Singapore’s role in advancing life sciences and medtech innovations. L.E.K. Consulting. Accessed 18 November 2025.

⁵ Singapore launches NATI mRNA BioFoundry to boost nucleic acid therapeutics. (2024). A*STAR HQ Corporate Website. Accessed 18 November 2025.

⁶ HSA Singapore the first national regulatory authority awarded the highest recognition for an advanced medicines regulatory system by the World Health Organization. (2022). HSA. Accessed 18 November 2025.