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Singapore — the Biopolis of Asia www.asiabiotech.com Singapore — The Biopolis of Asia Singapore — The Biopolis of Asia by Dr. Swan Gin Beh Director, Biomedical Sciences Group, Singapore Economic Development Board, Singapore ingapore’s vision is to become a global hub for the biomedical sciences (BMS). Although Singapore’s involvement in BMS goes back to the 1970s when Beecham Pharmaceuticals established a semi-synthetic Spenicillin plant, the major push started in year 2000 as part of the government’s effort to diversify the country’s economic portfolio. The goal is to develop the BMS industry — comprising pharmaceuticals, medical technology, biotechnology and healthcare services — into a key pillar of our economy. With this in mind, Singapore has built up world-class capabilities across the entire value chain; from drug discovery, product development and clinical research to manufacturing and health care delivery. Three agencies have the primary responsibility for implementing Singapore’s BMS initiative. EDB’s BMS Group (BMSG) formulates the industry development plans and attracts international companies to set up operations in Singapore. EDB’s biomedical investment arm, Bio*One Capital, makes strategic investments in companies with the aim of generating economic spin-offs in Singapore, while A*STAR’s Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) takes the lead in coordinating and funding public sector and academic research, as well as supporting the training of scientists. The effort is spearheaded by Mr. Philip Yeo, Chairman of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and Co-chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) with specifically responsibility for the BMS initiative. Mr. Yeo was previously Chairman of EDB for more than 15 years and played a key role in developing Singapore’s disk drive, semiconductor and chemical industries. Growing Base of Drug Discovery and Development Activities A vivid icon of Singapore’s commitment to support BMS research is the Biopolis. Opened in October 2003 and costing S$500 million (US$297.8 million) to build, the Biopolis is an integrated R&D complex of two million square feet of space. It houses BMRC’s five research institutes, namely the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, the Genome Institute of Singapore, the Bioprocessing Technology Institute and the Bioinformatics Institute. Biopolis is also home to the R&D laboratories of numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies including the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD), Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Paradigm Therapeutics, Waseda-Olympus Bioscience Research Institute, ES Cell International and Proligo Singapore. The momentum of new projects was sustained in 2004 with GlaxoSmithKline establishing its Centre for Research in Cognitive and Degenerative Disorders in Singapore. This was GSK’s first such facility in the Asia- Pacific and Singapore’s third pharmaceutical corporate R&D center, the others being the NITD and Eli Lilly’s Systems Biology Centre (LSB). Also significant was the decision by Albany Molecular Research Inc. (AMRI), the world’s leading contract chemistry development company, to establish a research center in Singapore. The facility, AMRI’s first outside the US, will provide fee-for-service chemistry technologies and services, including medicinal and combinatorial chemistry, process research and scale-up chemistry, analytical services and the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients. 952 APBN • Vol. 9 • No. 18 • 2005 www.asiabiotech.com Singapore — The Biopolis of Asia More than 90% of the space in Biopolis has now been taken up and it currently houses some 2000 scientists from both public and private sector laboratories. As a result of the strong demand, construction of Phase II of Biopolis started in the first half of 2005. This will provide an additional 400,000 square feet of space for industry R&D by the first quarter of 2007. One of the key challenges faced by start-ups and established companies alike, is the need to manage R&D costs and bring products to the market as quickly as possible. At the Biopolis, companies can take advantage of a “plug-and-play” infrastructure. Researchers are able to access state-of-the-art facilities, scientific infrastructure and specialized services. These allow companies to cut R&D costs significantly and accelerate the product development timeline. Shared facilities include X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance, electron microscopy, DNA sequencing and others. In addition, there are conference facilities and meeting rooms that companies can use. Singapore is also the Asian hub for many of the leading pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations to direct and coordinate their regional clinical development activities, from Phase I to Phase III. This is due to Singapore’s excellent infrastructure and geographic location, which facilitates access to patient populations across Asia. These companies include AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Covance, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Icon Clinical Research, Merck & Co., Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, PPD, Quintiles, Sanofi-Aventis and Schering- Plough. Manufacturing Continues to Outperform Singapore’s BMS industry posted a record manufacturing output of S$15.8 billion (US$9.4 billion) in 2004, a 33.2% increase over the year before. When Singapore started the BMS initiative in mid-2000, the goal was to double the industry’s manufacturing output to S$12 billion (US$7.15 billion) by 2005. The industry’s strong performance in 2004 meant that the target was comfortably exceeded by a third and achieved one year ahead of schedule. Singapore also continued to strengthen its position as a strategic manufacturing base for global pharmaceutical companies. In 2004, Novartis Pharma AG started construction of a new production facility to provide needed capacity within its global manufacturing network. In addition, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) completed an expansion to its existing manufacturing facility in Singapore, while Pfizer opened a multi-purpose facility, making Singapore home to its first large-scale manufacturing plant in Asia. There were also significant new investments in Medical Technology. Ciba Vision, a Novartis subsidiary, started construction of its global contact lens manufacturing facility during 2004. MDS Sciex, a subsidiary of Canadian- based MDS Inc, announced that it would set up a manufacturing facility to produce its mass spectrometers, its first site outside Canada. A local Singapore company Forefront Medical Technology will be expanding its plant to contract manufacture medical devices used in the field of anesthesia. The Tuas Biomedical Park has played an instrumental role in attracting leading pharmaceutical and medical technology companies to set up their global production bases in Singapore. Within a short span of five years, the 183-hectare park is already home to global giants such as Merck Sharpe & Dohme, Pfizer and Wyeth. An additional 188 hectares will be developed to cater to the strong demand. The Tuas Biomedical Park offers ready infrastructure such as roads, sewer lines, power lines, drainage systems, portable water to telecommunication connectivity. In addition, tenants have easy access to third-party services such as chilled water supply, waste treatment and industrial gases. Building New Bio-Enterprises Bio*One Capital, manages S$1.2 billion (US$0.7 billion) in several funds. Last year, Bio*One committed a total of S$95 million (US$56.6 million) to investments in 16 projects, including both new investments as well as follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies. Ninety percent of the investments were made in Singapore- based companies to help build and grow the companies, and in overseas projects with linkages and activities in Singapore. In 2004, Bio*One’s key portfolio companies made significant strides. - A-Bio Pharma commenced its first major partnership with leading vaccines company GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals (Belgium) to develop and manufacture new generation vaccines. - S*Bio has developed a highly competitive oncology program focused on the development of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors and is on track to deliver its first candidate for clinical development in 2006. APBN • Vol. 9 • No. 18 • 2005 953 www.asiabiotech.com Singapore — The Biopolis of Asia - MerLion Pharmaceuticals (Singapore) entered into further partnerships with international pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for natural product drug discovery. - One of the world’s leading stem cell company, ES Cell International (Singapore), received a resource infrastructure enhancement award from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a research grant from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) to look into research for the treatment of diabetes. Bio*One Capital also continues to nurture homegrown start-ups through the Bio*One Innovate ‘N’ Create (INC) scheme. This scheme provides seed capital for start-ups. For example, a new company, ProTherapeutics, was recently seeded under this scheme to commercialize sublingually delivered peptide therapeutics based on research funded by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and BMRC. Two thousand and four also saw another important milestone with the setting up of BioSingapore, a trade association representing the interests of local biosciences enterprises. This signifies a coming of age for the industry. BioSingapore will play an important role in helping local BMS companies to engage the financial community
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