Singapore takes biomedical road to
growth By Tony Sitathan
SINGAPORE - The biomedical industry in
Singapore, viewed by many government officials as a
strong pillar in the island city's national economy, is
projected to exceed US$7 billion (S$12 billion) by the
end of 2004 and should achieve its target of US$11.7
billion by 2010, Trade and Industry Minister George Yeo
said at the recent opening of GlaxoSmithKline's
manufacturing facility.
GlaxoSmithKline, which
has so far invested US$588 million in Singapore, has
intentions to expand its existing plant there by an
additional $59 million to boost the pharmaceutical
company's current investment, aimed at shoring up its
production capability for drugs for asthma patients. The
company also intends to build a $29 million technology
center by next year to improve coordination between
research and development (R&D) and manufacturing.
Singapore has focused on promoting the
biomedical industry as a pillar of growth since the
early 1990s. Dr David Pulman, president of global
manufacturing and supply at GlaxoSmithKline, says
Singapore is now seen by biomedical and biotech
companies as one of the ideal centers in Asia in which
to set up their bases of operations. "I think a lot of
pharmaceutical companies are starting to look at
Singapore for R&D aspects, whether that be for
clinical work or development work, because the education
system is growing. There are good, trained people here.
There are also great facilities now at Biopolis
[Singapore's biomedical research hub], where Singapore
is becoming much more important for R&D services,"
said Pulman.
The Singaporean government built
Biopolis last October to develop further the biomedical
and life-sciences industry. It is a 185,000-square-meter
research complex housing biomedical research institutes
and biotech companies. Currently there are more than 90
companies manufacturing pharmaceutical and biotechnology
products in Singapore, and some of them, similar to
GlaxoSmithKline, have begun investing in their R&D
efforts there. Novartis, another global pharmaceutical
firm, has already built an R&D center in Singapore,
making it the first such company to do so in the
Asia-Pacific region outside Japan.
According to
International Data Corp (IDC), an international market
research company, the government plans to transform
Singapore into a global focal point for life-sciences
research and manufacturing activities. By 2005, it
intends to house 15 world-class life-sciences companies
and become the regional center for clinical trials and
drug development.
Singapore has plotted a
consistent roadmap toward meeting these objectives. The
work and achievements it has made in this sector are far
greater than in other countries in the region. Although
there has been some degree of work done in Malaysia,
Taiwan and even Hong Kong, Singapore seems to be the
early leader of the life-sciences pack. One reason is
its flexible policies and ability to nurture the
biomedical industry with government and venture-capital
funds. Its decision to start early in the game is
already paying off dividends, said Patrick Sharma, a
biosciences engineer from the United Kingdom.
According to IBM, the life-sciences division in
Singapore that has been modeled after its US counterpart
is seen as a very important test bed for some of IBM's
clinical genomics initiatives. IBM has recently focused
on developing information-based medicine, a system of
medical care that supplements traditional opinion-based
diagnoses with new in-depth revelations that have been
acquired through computerized data acquisition,
management and analysis. This helps personal treatments
by improving the accuracy of diagnostic decisions. What
attracted IBM to set up its life-sciences division in
Singapore is the island's pluralistic mix of population
as well as its ability to retain and motivate top
scientists and researchers from around the world -
something that should not be taken lightly since similar
attempts to court top researchers have met lukewarm
response in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Four years ago
the Taiwanese government unveiled a plan to invest up to
$5 billion to shore up its fledging biomedical and
biotech industry. It was determined at that time that a
portion of the money would go toward biotech investments
overseas while the rest would be used for developing
between 100 and 300 new companies in Taiwan. The
Taiwanese government hoped that the local biotech
industry would be capable of supporting up to 500
biotech-related firms by the end of 2010. That goal has
since been scaled back and industry analysts now say it
could take much longer to realize as less emphasis is
placed on funding research at the university level and
in helping researchers secure patents. University
research is considered the backbone of research and
development in Europe and the United States.
Elsewhere in Southeast Asia countries such as
Malaysia are only now realizing the potential of
engaging in the biomedical industry. Funds have been
allocated in the billions of dollars to develop this
sector of the economy there, while several
government-led initiatives have recently been announced
to develop Malaysia's infant biomedical structure. The
country launched Biovalley last year and the government
has since set aside close to $27 million to build up the
right infrastructure there. A private venture capital
from the UK, Springhill Bioventures, has also set up a
$30 million fund to prime Malaysia's efforts in the
biomedical and biotech field.
Singapore, which
has been credited for taking a hands-on approach to
investing in the biotech sector, is starting to see the
effects its biomedical imprint is having on the economy.
The Economic Development Board recently announced that
an upswing in Singapore's manufacturing output for the
April quarter has resulted in an increase of 22.2%
compared with the same period last year, due largely to
the higher output for biomedical products and
electronics. The biomedical manufacturing sector, which
comprises pharmaceuticals and medical devices, is up by
almost 89.8%, while overall manufacturing growth is up
by 12.9% this year. Not bad for an early start.
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