Biomedical Sciences
Singapore ’s biomedical sciences industry contributes 4.1% of the nation’s GDP, manufacture about S$20 billion worth of medicines and medical devices, and employs more than 16,000 individuals.
Singapore ’s goal is to be a biomedical sciences hub in Asia, with SGD 25 billion in manufacturing output by 2015.
Singapore has invested heavily in infrastructure for biomedical sciences. Biopolis is an integrated biomedical research complex where the most cutting-edge research takes place. It houses private and public sector research institutions which build core capabilities in niche research areas including pharmaceuticals, genomics, cell and molecular biology, bio-processing, bio-informatics and bio-engineering. Next to Biopolis is Fusionopolis, where Singapore’s public sector research institutes specialising in physical sciences and engineering are located. The Biopolis is also located next to the National University Health System, one of the key academic medical centres in Singapore.
The integration of public sector and corporate laboratories allows for the cross-fertilisation of ideas and collaborative opportunities. Some public-private partnerships that have taken off include:
- GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals’ US$1.3 million investment in vaccine and process development with Singapore’s Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI)
- AstraZeneca’s collaboration with the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) and the National University Hospital (NUH) in pre-clinical and clinical development activities of anti-cancer compounds to build up AstraZeneca’s drug development capabilities in Asia
- Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN)’s partnership with European biotechs – Humalys SAS and Cytos Biotechnology Ltd – to develop antibodies for combating and managing viruses prevalent in Asia including hand, foot and mouth disease.
- Massachusetts-based biotech, FORMA Therapeutics’ collaboration with the Experimental Therapeutics Centre of Singapore (ETC) to co-discover novel therapeutics.
Having completed Phase I, the biomedical sciences initiative is now embarking on Phase II, which is to develop translational and clinical research in the next five years.
Read more about Singapore’s biomedical sciences industry here or click here to get the full story on Singapore's Biomedical Sciences initiative.
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