In June, Singapore’s Biopolis marked two decades since its completion as a “key project” by government industrial developer JTC.
Designed as a research and development (R&D) hub for the biomedical industry, the precinct has grown to include 13 buildings, occupying a total floor area of 3.7 million sq ft in its sixth phase of development.
When Singapore began building its research ecosystem some 25 years ago, it started “from a very low base”, says Prof Tan Sze Wee, assistant chief executive of biomedical research at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star).
Over the 2000s and 2010s, Singapore evolved researchers’ bench strength — or training and expertise — to fill unmet clinical needs, adds Tan, who is an adjunct professor at both Duke-NUS Medical School and Nanyang Technological University. “Over time, we evolved to understand that when it comes to application, how do we answer [the] industry’s needs? We spend a lot of effort, as you know, encouraging many companies to use Singapore as a base, and also try to leverage our investment and R&D to better support public-private partnerships.”
Speaking at the opening of British multinational consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser’s R&D centre in Singapore on July 18, Tan says such laboratories will help explain to researchers about “the issues downstream” in manufacturing and sales. “To scientists, they want perfection so they can get on the cover of [scientific journals] Nature or Science. But many times, what happens is that it’s difficult to transmit the reproducibility — [there are] issues with scale and all the trade-offs you take to make and supply the stuff.”
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According to Tan, his agency is teaching Singapore’s scientists to be mindful of such issues. “When you are constructing the experiment, do you know your bill of materials? Do you know where it comes from? Do you have a single-source supplier? During Covid-19, [having] a single source with no back-up breaks everything up.”
To corporates like Reckitt, however, this is “fundamental”, he adds. “You invest in R&D and you need to have a payback.”
The London-listed Reckitt’s 5,000 sq ft lab, located within Nucleos at Biopolis, joins its network of R&D centres in the US, the UK, India and China. Reckitt, which owns consumer brands like Dettol and Strepsils, says the lab will serve markets worldwide with a key focus on the Asean region.
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Supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), Reckitt has made “strategic investments” in developing its R&D centre, though its president for Asean, Japan and Korea declined to reveal this figure.
“Suffice to say, we will keep investing as our needs grow,” says Vijayanand Sinha. “We are very keen to ensure that this region, and this R&D centre, has what it takes to actually deliver.”
The centre will focus on developing the antiseptic Dettol — “a very exciting brand” for Reckitt, he adds. “Within the world of Dettol, there are many aspects. [We are] ensuring that health and hygiene reaches this part of the world.”
The R&D centre in Singapore currently employs 14 staff, with three vacancies. Together with a Tuas plant and an office at Marina Bay Financial Centre, Reckitt has a total strength of 350 employees in Singapore.
Reckitt’s R&D centre is testament to Singapore’s strong position as an innovation hub for businesses, says Cindy Koh, executive vice-president, accounts, at EDB. “Reckitt will be able to tap the established network of scientific institutions and research talent base in Singapore, to drive advancements in its personal care portfolio.”
In her opening address, Koh says she was personally involved in discussions to establish the R&D centre back in 2018, travelling to New Jersey in the subsequent year to meet Reckitt executives.
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From left: Alex Bamford, chargé d’affaires, British High Commission in Singapore; Vijayanand Sinha, president, Asean, Japan and Korea, Reckitt; Laura Clark, vice-president, R&D, Reckitt; and Cindy Koh, executive vice-president, accounts, EDB; at the opening of Reckitt’s R&D centre in Biopolis
Reckitt’s Tuas facility made headlines in June 2022 for exporting infant formula base powder to the US amid a national shortage there, after Reckitt’s subsidiary Mead Johnson received import approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
According to Koh, the Singapore plant exported over 20 million eight-ounce (227g) servings of infant formula to the US. “[This] was the first instance of the US FDA approving and allowing infant formula powder to be imported into the US. That is a strong testament to Reckitt’s Tuas plant in Singapore [and] the world-class safety and quality control standards.”
Reckitt’s lab opened a week after New York Stock Exchange-listed Avantor expanded its Singapore hub at Gul Drive.
On July 11, Avantor unveiled its cGMP-certified manufacturing and quality control lab to its executives and EDB’s senior vice-president and head of investment facilitation, Elaine Teo.
Headquartered in Pennsylvania, the chemicals and materials manufacturer supplies “mission-critical products and services” to customers in the life sciences, advanced technologies and applied materials industries.
The company reportedly works with some 300,000 biopharmaceutical customers globally. Its improved Singapore facility includes a quality control lab and two warehouses to meet the needs of customers across Asia, Middle East and Africa.
Ups and downs
News broke in late July that Singapore-based cancer diagnostics company Mirxes had applied to list in Hong Kong.
Founded in 2014 as a spinoff from A*Star, Mirxes is reportedly valued at some US$600 million ($798.7 million) and was said to be weighing a Singapore listing before settling on Hong Kong.
That said, a dual listing on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) could still happen. Mirxes co-founder and CEO Zhou Lihan says the company “started official conversations” with SGX in 4Q2022, but did not confirm whether there was a formal application.
Like any sector, the biotech industry has experienced “ups and downs”, says Lim Xinhong, managing director and member of the investment committee at Vickers Venture Partners.
For one, Singapore-based cell therapy company Tessa Therapeutics shut down in June, citing difficult market conditions. The start-up, backed by EDBI and Polaris Partners, had raised US$126 million in a June 2022 Series A round.
The industry faces global economic conditions, changes in market demand and the “trials and tribulations” of building an ecosystem, adds Lim, who obtained his PhD in developmental biology from Stanford University in 2013. “There have been pivots in funding structures and themes as the country continues to fine-tune where it wants to focus its resources. However, the Singaporean government has provided steadfast support that has enabled the continued growth of the sector.”
There are some local success stories. Pacritinib, a drug developed by local biotech firm S*Bio back in 2000 to treat a rare form of bone-marrow cancer, was approved by the US FDA in 2022 and is projected to achieve “billion-dollar blockbuster sales”, Lim tells The Edge Singapore.
Pacritinib, also known as Vonjo, was sold in 2012 to Seattle-based CTI Biopharma, which was subsequently acquired this year by Sobi, a Stockholm-listed Swedish biotech company, for US$1.7 billion.
Some have relocated to the US for their deeper investor pockets. Biofourmis, a digital therapeutics company that uses AI for monitoring patients and predicting diseases, became a biotech unicorn in April 2022 after it raised more than US$445 million from investors like Intel, General Atlantic and Softbank.
Biofourmis was based in Singapore until 2019, when it relocated to Boston. During the pandemic, Singapore’s Ministry of Health used the company’s technology to remotely monitor Covid-19 patients via a biosensor worn on the upper arm.
Like Reckitt and Avantor, major pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies have either set up shop or expanded their operations in Singapore, says Lim, including the likes of Merck, Sanofi, GSK, Thermo Fisher and WuXi Biologics.
These companies seek to either diversify or tap robust demand from China, he adds.
WuXi, a Chinese contract research, development and manufacturing organisation listed in Hong Kong, announced in July 2022 a US$1.4 billion investment plan to expand R&D and largescale manufacturing capabilities in Singapore.
Supported by EDB, WuXi’s 10-year plan includes hiring some 1,500 staff here, in a bid to add 120,000 litres of biomanufacturing capacity to its global network by 2026.
The pandemic accelerated research efforts and collaboration in the life sciences and medical sectors, says Lim. “The pandemic highlighted the importance of the biotech sector to public health, as well as areas for improvement, like increasing supply resilience and independence.”
From having almost no vaccine production capacity, Singapore now has five companies setting up vaccine manufacturing facilities here, he adds. These include BioNTech, which announced in November 2022 that it will set up an mRNA manufacturing plant in Tuas Biomedical Park by end-2023.
The biotech sector will likely continue to evolve and adapt to the lessons learned from the pandemic years, says Lim. “Singapore’s focus on innovation, infrastructure and talent development will continue to play a vital role in shaping the industry’s direction and maintaining its competitiveness on the global stage.”
CapitaLand in Singapore Science Park
Located less than 4km from Biopolis is the Singapore Science Park (SSP), which commemorates its 40th anniversary this year. CapitaLand considers SSP part of the “Greater one-north community”.
The real estate group unveiled on June 26 its $1.37 billion Geneo life sciences and innovation cluster, offering some 180,600 sq m (about 1.944 million sq ft) of gross floor area across three properties: 1, 5 and 7 Science Park Drive.
5 Science Park Drive currently houses the headquarters of e-commerce giant Shopee.
CapitaLand targets to complete 7 Science Park Drive in 2024. This includes 29,000 sq m of work space and the 10,000 sq m Citadines Science Park Singapore serviced residences, which will be operated by CapitaLand Investment’s 9CI lodging business unit, The Ascott.
Both 5 and 7 Science Park Drive are owned by the unlisted CapitaLand Development (CLD).
Set to open in 2025 is 1 Science Park Drive, the largest property in Geneo. Three Grade-A office buildings will be linked by an event plaza, offering some 112,600 sq m of work space and 3,600 sq m for retail.
The property is connected underground to Kent Ridge MRT Station, and is a 66:34 joint venture between CLD and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT. A17U
According to CapitaLand, about 80,000 sq m of Geneo’s work space will be purpose-built to accommodate biomedical R&D activities, such as exhaust risers to the roof to meet ventilation requirements, multiple floor traps for dry or wet laboratory configurations, and high floor loading to accommodate laboratory and research equipment.
The population at SSP is expected to increase 75% to some 21,000 people once Geneo becomes fully operational, says CapitaLand.
Jonathan Yap, CEO of CLD, says SSP has established itself as one of Asia’s “most prestigious addresses” for R&D and technology. “[SSP is] home to more than 350 multinational corporations, homegrown companies, start-ups and laboratories. Of these, about 100 companies are from the life sciences sector, with representation across the value chain.”
Yap adds: “With Singapore continuing to be the region’s R&D hub for a diverse range of technologies, we are pleased to leverage CapitaLand’s real estate expertise to support the growth of these industries at SSP.”
Photos: A*Star, Reckitt, CapitaLand
