Singapore is not a low-cost manufacturing base, but good infrastructure, respect for intellectual property, access to talent, and a government with a vision are what makes it the go-to destination for US pharma giant Pfizer.

“There are no short-term investments in the world of pharmaceuticals,” said Mr Mike McDermott, chief global supply officer and executive vice president of Pfizer.

He told The Straits Times in an interview: “Investments take a long time to come to fruition, and then we expect to be operating that for decades. It is not an in-and-out type scenario.

“So, we need governments, we need partners that are in it for the long run along with us... and Singapore fits within that perfectly.”

Mr McDermott was speaking on the sidelines of the 23 July opening ceremony of a new S$1 billion plant here, one of Pfizer’s most advanced manufacturing facilities among the company’s more than 30 sites spread across six continents.

The plant will produce active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) – the biologically active component of a drug – for Pfizer’s cancer, pain, and antibiotic medicine. The API produced here is then exported to Pfizer plants across the world that make injectable drugs or oral pills.
 

The new plant, an extension of an existing 20-year-old facility, is the first large-scale API manufacturing investment globally by Pfizer in many years.

Construction of the plant started in 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr McDermott said achieving the feat, despite various pandemic-related disruptions, speaks volumes about Singapore and its efficient and disciplined workforce.

About 4,500 workers, on average, were on-site during construction, and a total of 14,000 people were involved in getting the facility up and running, including Pfizer staff and contractors in Singapore and from all over the world.

“I would count the Singapore Government and the Singapore citizens as brilliant in the ability to achieve this construction on time, on budget during a global pandemic,” said Mr McDermott.
 

Pfizer itself achieved an unprecedented feat during the pandemic.

It produced a viable vaccine in just 10 months, a process that otherwise can take as long as a decade. It also produced three billion doses of the vaccine in a year, compared with its pre-pandemic annual production of 200 million doses.

“There were many challenges not just with scientifically coming up with the vaccine, but then how do you get it to patients in time and in a period when several countries were shutting down their borders,” said Mr McDermott.

Given that the vaccines were being delivered only through government channels, Pfizer worked closely with government officials, boards of health, and other institutions.

Pfizer also put together sophisticated supply chains, giving it the ability to quickly reroute shipments from ports and border crossings affected by lockdowns.

The company used innovative technologies not just to track a ship or a plane carrying vaccines, but also to track individual boxes in a plane, and individual shipments within a container on a ship.
 

Although the pandemic showed how important the free flow of goods and access to technology are, global supply chains and flow of technology are still vulnerable to many issues including geopolitics, Mr McDermott said.

He added: “I think that industries are more prepared than they ever were, pharmaceuticals in particular. And I could tell you, Pfizer, for sure, is even more prepared.

“Do I think the world is prepared for every outcome? No.”

Mr McDermott said the ability to adapt quickly is going to continue to drive supply chain and technological innovation, and companies will continue to work on strategies that make them more agile and prepared.

And countries that understand the importance of unhindered supply chains and innovative technologies will continue to attract more investments than others, he noted.

Mr McDermott said he would count Singapore as one of those countries.

While he agreed that the Republic is an expensive location compared with many other Asian countries, he said Singapore has an edge in some of the factors that Pfizer deems more important.

He said: “We need good infrastructure. I mean, we cannot operate in a country from where we cannot move goods freely around. We need a country that respects our intellectual property.”

Finally, Singapore is among few places where companies like Pfizer can source a workforce that is talented and skilled, he noted.

“Do I have enormous confidence in our investments here for the long term? Absolutely.”

Source: The Straits Times ©️ SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.