Singapore grows as global pharma hub, with SGD 1bn Pfizer expansion following SGD 2bn AstraZeneca cancer drug facility

US-headquartered pharmaceutical major Pfizer has opened its new SGD 1 billion expanded facility in Tuas this week. This marks yet another milestone in Singapore’s roadmap to becoming a global pharma hub. Just two months earlier, the UK-headquartered AstraZeneca announced its plan to build an SGD 2 billion facility to manufacture next-generation cancer drugs.

A CNA report said yesterday that the Pfizer expansion would create more than 250 “highly skilled jobs” in pharmaceutical production, quality, and engineering in Singapore. “The extension of the company’s Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) manufacturing facility at Tuas Biomedical Park opened on Tuesday (Jul 23),” the report said.

Quoting a Pfizer media release, the news outlet said that the expanded Singapore facility would produce “various small molecule APIs” for a range of drugs, including cancer drugs.

“[The new facility] incorporates the latest manufacturing technologies, enabling the production of novel and life-saving drugs from Pfizer’s future R&D pipeline. It will also feature flexible and modular manufacturing, as well as integrated smart factory capabilities,” said Singapore Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong, who was at the inauguration.

The deputy PM was quoted by CNA as saying that Singapore’s biopharmaceutical manufacturing sector at present employed 9,000 people. He said, “We look forward to working closely with partners such as Pfizer to grow the bench strength of talent in the sector.”

Why Singapore is go-to nation for biopharma

As Pfizer and AstraZeneca make headlines this year with billions of dollars in new facility investments, they reinforce the stature of Singapore as the go-to country for global pharma brands.

In October 2023, the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) had published an article titled ‘Why Singapore is a top choice for biopharma firms seeking global expansion’.

The EDB article named US biotech pioneer Amgen and Swiss eyecare device maker Alcon among “the companies leveraging Singapore’s R&D capabilities, talent and regional connectivity to serve Southeast Asian markets”.

Citing growth data, the EDB article said: “Singapore’s biopharmaceutical exports have more than tripled over the past 20 years to SGD 19 billion (USD 14.27 billion) in 2022, demonstrating the sector’s robust growth.”

Skill is one of the top growth drivers. “Singapore has more than 80 pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing plants with a total of 24,000 employees. Its advanced technological infrastructure, highly-skilled talent pool, global interconnectedness and focus on innovation have attracted many of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies to set up their production bases there,” said the article.

The Tuas Biomedical Park, where the expanded Pfizer facility is located, is also home to many other global pharma brands. “About 14 companies, with some 7,000 employees, have set up in Tuas Biomedical Park, which has purpose-built spaces and laboratories. The biomedical park complements Biopolis at one-north, and is home to companies such as GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi, MSD, Novartis, Roche and AbbVie,” said EDB.

The article quoted EDB Senior Vice-President and Head of Healthcare Goh Wan Yee as saying: “We will continue to work closely with institutions from various fields to enhance our research and manufacturing capabilities for diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. We will also continue to cultivate talent through tertiary and continuing education, as well as on-the-job training. This will strengthen Singapore’s healthcare ecosystem and its position as Asia’s leading biopharmaceutical hub.”

Investments in Singapore by Amgen, at the time of the EDB report being published, were a total of two factories in Tuas Biomedical Park and more than SGD 535 million put into its Singapore production base.

“Besides robust infrastructure and a highly-skilled talent pool, Singapore is very stable politically and economically. The business environment is highly transparent, and the country emphasises [upon] the protection of intellectual property, which encourages innovation,” said Wallace Torres, Amgen Singapore’s Vice-President of Manufacturing, as quoted in the article.

The article also reported: “Besides US biopharma companies, Chinese companies have also set up facilities in Singapore. WuXi Biologics, a Chinese company that produces raw materials for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, announced in August [2022] that it would invest USD 1.4 billion over the next 10 years to set up a research and production facility in Singapore. This will create an estimated 1,500 jobs. The company plans to build a contract development and manufacturing centre to increase its biopharmaceutical production capacity by 120,000 litres by 2026.”

Swiss eyecare device company Alcon has been in “settled in Tuas Biomedical Park” since 2005, manufacturing contact lenses using high-tech machines in its Singapore factory. At the time of the article’s publication, the Alcon annual production in Singapore exceeded 1 billion contact lens pieces.