Asia's 30 Under
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Will 2021 spell the end of coronavirus? Asia’s virus busters Travel bubbles MCI(P) 053/04/2020 January 2021 ASIA’S 30 UNDER Despite a dicult year, people have invariably stood out as bright spots. 30 go-getters and game-changers in Asia, with a gamut of achievements under their belt, are outshining their peers. WE BRING YOU SINGAPORE AND THE WORLD UP TO DATE IN THE KNOW News | Live blog | Mobile pushes Web specials | Newsletters | Microsites WhatsApp | SMS Special Features IN THE LOOP ON THE WATCH Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Videos | FB live | Live streams To subscribe to the free newsletters, go to str.sg/newsletters All newsletters connect you to stories on our straitstimes.com website. Data Digest The business of vaccines Vaccine development is usually an expensive, multi-year odyssey with a high risk of failure. But unprecedented demand and funding could boost returns for successful makers of Covid-19 candidates. US drug development Development & approvals Costs stages Success rates Time Product development Only about 6-7% Covid-19 vaccines Pre-clinical of vaccine and are being developed US$319m to US$469m Discovery, non-vaccine drug at a drastically Estimated minimum cost of developing development, candidates that accelerated pace. vaccine candidate from pre-clinical to lab testing begin US clinical end-Phase 2a, including failed candidates. trials get past Leading Phase 3. All-drug Covid-19 Facilities & equipment average candidates US$50m to US$700m Estimated cost to build and maintain Phase 1 manufacturing capacity. Safety, dosage testing Facilities & equipment 20-100 Less than 25% healthy Of total manufacturing costs. volunteers, aficted 70% Overheads patients Up to 45% Of raw material and labour costs. Phase 2 Efcacy, side Revenues effects testing Grants Several Up to hundred 33% 8 months US$12.5b aficted 81 months US$1.2b patients Covid-19 vaccine Covid-19 vaccine development funding investment contracts by US Advanced by Coalition for Research and Epidemic Preparedness Phase 3 Development Authority. Efcacy, adverse Innovations. reaction testing Supply agreements 300 to 3,000 aficted- 25% Company Disclosed 2021 Covid-19 patient doses vaccine revenue volunteers (US$b estimate) AstraZeneca 2.4b Unavailable Regulatory (+0.2b option) review Moderna 255m Approval allows (+516m option) 13.3 commercial sales 16 months Pzer 570m (+600m option) 17.0 Phase 4 Safety, efcacy A vaccine maker’s regulatory obligations Other factors testing are not over even after commercialisation. Long-term efcacy Competition Vaccine manufacturers are required to and safety Several thousand continue monitoring and testing after aficted-patient they start selling their products. Scalability Pricing power volunteers Sources: CEPI, DiMasi et al, Goldman Sachs, Gouglas et al, Milken Institute, Plotkin et al, Public Citizen, US FDA TEXT: Kenneth Lim BT INFOGRAPHICS 1 Warren Fernandez Editor-in-Chief, The Straits Times & SPH’s English, Malay and Tamil Media (EMTM) Group Shefali Rekhi Asian Insider Editor Peter Williams Production & Design Editor Eugene Leow AI Video Supervising Editor Dominic Nathan Managing Editor (EMTM) ADVERTISING Maureen Wee Head of Advertising Sales [email protected] Helen Lee Head of Advertising, Product Development and Innovation [email protected] 12 Special Report EDITORIAL DESK Complex operation Ronald Kow as countries start Sub-editor, The Straits Times gearing up for Dominique Nelson Covid-19 vaccine Journalist, The Straits Times rollout DESIGN Marlone Rubio Executive Artist Anil Kumar Graphic Artist Gareth Chung Senior Executive Artist PHOTO: AFP CIRCULATION Eric Ng Head, Circulation Marketing Cover Story Economic Affairs Tommy Ong Senior Manager (Circulation) Asia’s 30 under 30 The Covid-19 economic crisis 4 19 could morph REACH OUT TO US: Circulation & subscription: Louis Koh Special Report Senior Executive East Asia Watch [email protected] Will 2021 spell the end Challenges in China’s quest for 12 of coronavirus? 21 tech autonomy WE WELCOME YOUR FEEDBACK AND VIEWS Indian government prepares Letters can be sent to to counter vaccine scepticism [email protected] Power Play Published by South-east Asia’s push to An iron fist in a velvet glove – The Straits Times, Singapore stockpile vaccines 23 the next chapter in Sino-US ties Press Holdings (SPH) Printed by China to vaccinate 50 million Times Printers Private Limited people in high-priority groups All rights reserved. No part Spotlight of this publication may be Malaysia to start Covid-19 Asia’s virus busters reproduced in whole or in part without written vaccinations in February 25 6 heroes in fight to end Covid-19 permission from the publisher. pandemic Singapore Watch No cakewalk for upcoming digital 29 banks in Singapore 2 contents 38 Special Feature WUHAN ONE YEAR ON A city of resilience, scars PHOTO: REUTERS Country Report Lunch with Sumiko Budget crisis ends, but Malaysia Singapore’s IP Man in Geneva 32 no closer to stability 43 Farmers protest a major challenge for Modi People in the news Indonesia’s new dynasty in the Thailand’s new generation 46 making? political disruptors Jokowi replaces 6 ministers to Letter from New Delhi help virus-hit Indonesia recover Briyani delivery in India is 48 recipe for success South-east Asia Watch 37 Bangkok cleans up its act Life: Music Charming groups 50 in Chinese music Business Trends 40 Reviving travel through a bubble Big Picture Fire pots for winter in Singapore to pilot quarantine- 52 Kashmir free business travel 3 Cover Story ASIA’S 30 From scientists to ballet dancers, 30 go-getters are making waves in Asia. Some are big names, while others are striving to make their mark. But they share one thing in common – the drive to make lives better. Adamas Belva Andy Tay Kah Ping, 30 Annabelle Kwok, 27 1 Syah Devara, 30 2 Scientist, Singapore 3 AI poster girl, Singapore Entrepreneur, Indonesia Helping children shape their future begins When he was seven, Assistant Professor By the age of 25, Ms Annabelle Kwok had with quality education – this was Mr Andy Tay was already asking questions two successful artificial intelligence (AI) Adamas Belva Syah Devara’s vision when such as “Why do tigers have stripes?” when companies under her belt. he co-founded Ruangguru, an online he visited the zoo. When his parents failed In 2016, she co-founded SmartCow, marketplace connecting private tutors with to give him the answers, the curious boy which makes industrial grade hardware students, while he was pursuing a master’s would look them up in encyclopaedias. for AI processing. degree at Harvard Kennedy School in 2014. He is now in the field of cancer research, She had started the company to sell Today, the education technology pursuing answers to chronic healthcare off excess components she had bought to company appeals to its users with animated problems like cancer and pain. build a processor board for herself while learning videos and visual aids, and is His research is motivated by his parents making robots. able to recognise a user’s weaknesses and – his mother is a breast cancer survivor, In 2017, she went on to found recommend suitable learning materials. while his father, who used to work as a NeuralBay. The start-up specialises in With a registry of 300,000 tutors, its construction worker and is now a taxi vision analytics, using AI to recognise Web and mobile platforms are now used driver, suffers from lower back pain. humans, objects and text. by millions of people in Indonesia. Hoping to create a real-world impact Ms Kwok, a mathematics graduate, Mr Belva’s knack for innovation was and one day help his loved ones and believes that AI should be accessible and recognised by Indonesian President Joko many other families, Prof Tay focuses on affordable to those who need it. Widodo, who appointed him a special developing nanomaterials to engineer She sold NeuralBay in January last year, adviser last year to help explore out-of- immune cells for treating cancer. and is now heading the regional AI, data and the-box ways to advance the country. An assistant professor at the National analytics team at Prudential, looking after 13 Mr Belva was given Harvard Kennedy University of Singapore, he was the only Asian markets, including China and India. School’s Digital Innovation Award this year Singaporean selected in the Class of 2020 Beyond AI, she has many interests: circus in recognition of his contributions to the World Economic Forum Young Scientists tricks, film-making, hardware hacking, community. for his cutting-edge research. mixed martial arts and windsurfing. 4 AsianInsider January 2021 PHOTOS: THE JAKARTA POST, NUS, HER WORLD UNDER 30 LEE CHOO KIONG CLARA CHONG Assistant Foreign Editor CLEMENT YONG Carvey Ehren, 27 Faye Simanjuntak, 18 Grace Chia, 30 4 Student/inventor, Philippines 5 Human rights activist, 6 CEO and co-founder of Indonesia BeeX Autonomous Systems, Mr Carvey Ehren Maigue, who is from Many people shy away from the cruel Singapore Rizal, a Philippine province named after realities of child exploitation, sexual abuse BeeX builds the world’s most powerful national hero Jose Rizal, knew at age 13 and trafficking. underwater vehicles that pack superior that engineering was his calling. But not Ms Faye Simanjuntak, who co- “intellect” and physical propulsion into His science teacher had shown the class founded a non-governmental organisation a compact size. a movie with a scene depicting engineers with her mother for the protection of Its chief executive officer Grace at work, and said to him: “I hope some day vulnerable children when she was just 11. Chia believes engineering can make you will be someone like that.” Today, Rumah Faye, meaning “Faye’s underwater inspection work safer and The message stuck in his mind. In house”, runs community programmes more environmentally friendly.