Singapore - A "bright spot" for high-tech manufacturing in the Asian pharmaceutical industry

As we already know, Singapore is famous for being a global financial center. Recently, this country also attracted many reputable biopharma and pharmaceutical manufacturers. Due to the increase in complicated diseases like the Covid -19 epidemic, investment in high-tech pharmaceutical manufacturing is projected to grow.

So, what makes Singapore becomes an ideal place for high-tech pharmaceutical factories?

Firstly, Singapore has a high-skilled workforce. A recent report shows that more than 350 biotech and pharmaceutical companies are located in this country. The value of the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry accounts for 5% of GDP. Regarding research and development (R&D), Singapore has five times more biomedical specialists per population than the US.

The second reason is preferential policies. Many companies around the world consider Singapore a business-friendly country. Singapore has many programs, such as the Singapore Economic Development Board and the Biologics Pharma Innovation Program Singapore (BioPIPS), to help pharmaceutical companies construct plants. BioPIPS is a program joined by many of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, such as GSK, Sanofi, and Takeda, which aims to boost the Singapore government’s production of bio-based pharmaceutical products.

Last but not least, Singapore has a competitive environment for pharmaceutical companies. For example, there are many factories of the world’s leading firms, such as Amgen, Abbott, Novartis, Alcon, GSK, Lonza, MSD, Pfizer, Roche, and Mead Johnson in Tuas Biomedical Park. A senior manager who used to be a director of a pharmaceutical factory in Singapore said: “With the density of biotech companies like in Singapore, it is easy to find talent. It’s like the Silicon Valley of biotech.”

Position of Tuas Biomedical Park

Pharmaceutical plant projects underway in Singapore

Sanofi invested in an EVF factory of 434 million USD. The factory is fully digitized and can simultaneously produce various biotech products. Read more “EVF – Bước đi của Sanofi trong mảng sản phẩm sinh học“.

GSK has also inaugurated a 33 million USD factory producing some crucial ingredients of cancer drugs.

Thanks to huge profits from its Covid-19 vaccine, BioNtech Group is acquiring Novartis’ factory to turn it into an mRNA-based vaccine production facility. The price for this deal is unknown. This plant is expected to bring hundreds of millions of vaccines to the market when it is put into operation.

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