Singapore Institute of Advanced Medicine Holdings (SAM Holdings), which aims to become a comprehensive one-stop ambulatory cancer centre, has successfully completed the registration of its offer document in connection with its proposed initial public offering (IPO) and listing on the Catalist Board SGX and is now open for subscription by the public.
The public tranche will see some 4.415 million shares offered at 23 cents per share. Together with 109.585 million placement shares also at 23 cents per share, the group has offered 114 million invitation shares.
The public tranche will close on Feb 14, 12pm, while shares in SAM Holdings will be traded on the Catalist board of SGX on Feb 16.
The group is set to raise gross proceeds amounting to $26.2 million and will have a market capitalisation of $231.8 million upon listing. The proceeds from the invitation shares will provide the group with, among other things, additional capital to finance the acquisition of new equipment and facilities and upgrading of systems, working capital and repayment of bank borrowings.
Revolutionary cancer treatment
SAM Holdings aims to provide early detection and accurate diagnosis to its patients offering appropriate treatments to achieve better outcomes and quality of life. The group does so by focusing on the use of industry-leading and advanced technologies. To the best belief and knowledge of the group’s board of directors, the group is the first in Singapore to install the Varian ProBeam Compact system and the Halcyon Elite System, both by Varian Medical Systems Pacific, to offer proton beam therapy and photon radiation therapy, respectively, as cancer treatment options.
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In an interview with The Edge Singapore, Dr Djeng Shih Kien, executive director, CEO and founder of SAM Holdings says: “As a doctor – dentist by trade – I have always been heavily biased on new technology and teaching. I started this company in 2011 to provide healthcare to those that need help the most – those with cancer.”
The group provides the medical services, such as consultation and treatment therapy for cancer patients.
“With SAM Holdings, we bring in the latest technology in cancer treatment with the mission to provide better outcome and better quality of life to our patients,” says Djeng.
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Apart from cancer, the group’s services cater to a wide spectrum of diseases and health conditions including, but not limited to, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular disease detection and treatment.
Still in the red
Despite the group still making an overall loss, it believes that it is ready to list on the market.
Currently, loss for the group’s latest FY2023 ended June 2023, is at about $18.1 million, which widened from $12.4 million in FY2022 and $9.3 million in FY2021. Revenue however has seen growth with FY2023 revenue coming in at $16.2 million, FY2022 at $13.8 million and FY2021 at $12.9 million.
Djeng explains that the Covid-19 pandemic caused a lot of delays for the group to launch its services to the market. There were delays in construction to prepare the space in Biopolis to house the proton beam treatment machine.
To put things into perspective, the group’s proton beam machine by Varian is housed in a facility that is about 36,000 sqft in size and about three storeys high. The machine along with a purposely built bunker is as large as a tennis courts and across three storeys. It is not a small machine that can easily be plugged and played. The group had to reinforce the surrounding area to make it safe to house the machine in a customised bunker. Hence, the construction, which was initially due to be completed in 2020, was delayed until 2023. And along with the process of obtaining government approval for the use of the machine for cancer treatment, the group only managed to start operations at the Biopolis centre in June 2023. Throughout the delay period, the group was still forking out rental fees and essentially “paying for the delays”.
The group’s medical facility in Biopolis offers services using advanced technology, including radiotherapy services, nuclear medicine, diagnostic imaging and theranostics services, as well as the diagnosis and treatment for the overall improvement in the quality of life for cancer patients.
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“We had a big burn in cost for a few years until we got our license about seven months ago. We are putting things right and we have already accounted for our capex for the next three to five years,” says Djeng.
The group also has a clinic at Lucky Plaza that provides complementary services offering diagnostic imaging, radiopharmaceutical and oncology services for, including but not limited to, early cancer, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular disease detection and treatment.
With the teams at both clinics, the group aims to create a one-stop ambulatory cancer centre that provides services from early detection to a variety of cancer treatment methods for follow-up care
Moving forward
The way Djeng sees it, there will be a constant demand for the group’s services. To be sure, the World Health Organization’s cancer agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has predicted over 35 million new cancer cases in 2050 worldwide, a 77% increase from about 20 million cases in 2022.
Currently, SAM Holdings is just one of three medical institutes in Singapore that offers proton beam therapy. Djeng shares that this technology is new and very expensive, with the group’s machine costing upwards of $42 million and needing a customised space to house the machine, which costs another over $40 million.
The three medical institutes in Singapore, including SAM Holdings, have different brands of proton beam therapy machines in their centres, made by different manufacturers.
Djeng says: “I chose this machine because when I buy equipment, I don’t just look at what is latest and new. I also look at the tech that is coming.”
At this point, the group is also a member of the FlashForward Consortium formed to advance the prospects of FLASH radiotherapy, a potential next generation cancer treatment technique, in cancer care. This FLASH radiotherapy will be a sort of add on or attachment to the group’s current machine to enable a high dose of radiation to be delivered in a sub second, compared to the current treatment time of about 20 minutes.
Furthermore, the treatment duration will also be decreased, making this great for foreign patients coming into Singapore for cancer treatment.
However, this revolutionary technique is still undergoing clinical trials and Djeng hopes for it to be ready in the next couple of years. “The faster we get it, the more beneficial it is to our patients,” he says.
