Facilitating Manufacture of COVID-19 Vaccines with Pharmaceutical Companies and Ensuring Production Capabilities Locally in Future Pandemics
Ministry of Trade and IndustrySpeakers
Summary
This question concerns how Singapore facilitates COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing and ensures local production capabilities for future pandemics, as raised by Mr Yip Hon Weng. Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing highlighted ongoing discussions with pharmaceutical companies and the establishment of a US$130 million facility by Thermo Fisher Scientific. This facility will produce up to 30 million doses monthly and include Singapore's first large-scale sterile line for live virus filling by 2022. Such investments aim to enhance resilience while developing niche skillsets and nurturing local biomedical companies to strengthen future pandemic responses. These efforts leverage Singapore's skilled talent, strong research and development commitment, and global connectivity to ensure national vaccine security.
Transcript
22 Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) how is Singapore facilitating the manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines with the various pharmaceutical companies that we have established agreements with; and (b) learning from the COVID-19 situation, how is the Ministry ensuring that Singapore has the necessary capabilities within the country to produce vaccines for citizens' use in future pandemics.
Mr Chan Chun Sing: Singapore has a globally competitive pharmaceutical manufacturing sector. Pharmaceutical companies including Amgen, Pfizer, GSK and Sanofi, have invested here to leverage our skilled talent, commitment to research and development, strong manufacturing capabilities and excellent global connectivity.
We are in discussions with several pharmaceutical companies to manufacture vaccines and therapeutics (V&Ts) out of Singapore. In this regard, one of the world’s largest life sciences companies, Thermo Fisher Scientific, recently announced that it would establish a new US$130 million Fill-and-Finish facility here to develop and manufacture V&Ts. This new facility will consist of two new filling lines, including a high-speed sterile line approved for live virus filling, the first such large scale capability in Singapore. Once operational in 2022, the facility will manufacture up to 30 million sterile doses per month. It will have the versatility to manufacture a wide variety of V&Ts, and enhance Singapore’s resilience to future pandemics beyond COVID-19.
Attracting V&T manufacturers to Singapore will also complement our continuing efforts to develop manufacturing executives with the niche skillsets needed for V&T manufacturing, and reinforce our strategy of nurturing local companies in the biomedical sciences industry, whose R&D and innovation activities can strengthen our response to future pandemics.