The opening of Covance (Asia) Pte Ltd's expanded central laboratory

07 Apr 2006

By Dr Balaji Sadasivan, Senior Minister of State for information, Communications and the Arts and Health

Venue: The Synergy, 1 International Business Park

Ms Deborah Tanner,

President Covance Central Laboratory Services and Corporate Senior Vice President Covance,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure for me to join you this afternoon to celebrate the opening of Covance's expanded central laboratory and to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Covance's inception in Singapore. In the last decade, Covance's presence in Singapore has grown steadily and successfully. I wish to take this opportunity to thank you for your contributions.

We are glad that Covance has quadrupled the size of your current central laboratory from 150 square metres to 600 square metres. This expansion is timely and well positioned to capitalise on the increased clinical trial outsourcing by global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to Singapore and the Asia Pacific. It also underlines Singapore's position today to establish a comprehensive infrastructure dedicated to support the Biomedical Sciences industry.

Singapore is the leading clinical research and coordination hub in Asia. Many global pharmaceutical companies and contract research organisations not only work with Singapore hospitals to conduct their early phase trials here, they have also set up their clinical trials coordination centres in Singapore to direct their clinical research activities in the region. Singapore's world-class infrastructure, highly skilled workforce and pro-business environment are strongly conducive to such regional operations. A recent KPMG report entitled "Competitive Alternatives 2006" compared business costs in the biomedical sciences industry across nine industrialised nations. Singapore was ranked the most cost-effective country for clinical trial management compared to countries in EU, US, and Japan.

Since the launch of the Biomedical Sciences Initiative in 2000, our drug discovery and development base has grown substantially. We foresee that drug discovery activities will continue to grow in Singapore, especially with the completion of Biopolis Phase 2 by the end of 2006. This will also lead to a growth in the quantity and quality of clinical research in Singapore.

The Biopolis houses renowned research institutes and leading global pharmaceutical, biotechnological and medical technology companies. It is uniquely designed to foster a collaborative culture among the institutions and organisations. An integrated and collaborative environment, across scientific disciplines as well as between research institutions, hospitals and industry, is de rigueur in all cutting edge research today. The Biopolis, with two million square feet of space, is almost fully taken up. The high take-up rate indicates strong interest in the unique and attractive research environment that Biopolis offers. With the completion of Biopolis Phase 2, an additional 400,000 square feet of space will be available for biomedical research activities.

Singapore is open to global talent, engaging scientists, and entrepreneurs from all over the world. We have moved decisively in recent years to nurture and attract a critical mass of companies engaged in biomedical sciences. We have made early gains, in the rapid growth of the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical technology and healthcare industries and the top scientists that have decided to relocate to Singapore. This ability to pool together global talent, as we groom our own talent, is an absolute prerequisite for us to succeed as a hub for research and innovation.

To further support and deepen our growing base of biomedical activities, our aim is to further enhance Singapore's research and development environment. R&D activities like drug discovery and development will build on our established base of high-value manufacturing. As we encourage more companies to conduct upstream research activities in Singapore, there is also a growing need to expand the non-clinical and early clinical development services. This will allow researchers to access state-of-the-art facilities, scientific infrastructure and specialised services within the country, thereby allowing companies to reduce their drug development costs and accelerate the development timeline.

We therefore welcome service providers like Covance (Asia) Pte Ltd to use Singapore as a base to provide an increasing array of drug discovery and development services to local, regional and international companies. These services will augment the existing base of public research in Singapore and will also support the emerging critical mass of drug research and development activities.

In closing, let me congratulate the management and staff at Covance on the expansion of the central laboratory and on your 10th anniversary in Singapore. I wish Covance every continuing success.

Thank you.