The HSA has an ongoing post market surveillance program whereby routine compliance and quality checks are conducted on locally marketed health products, comprising pharmaceuticals, Chinese proprietary medicines, traditional medicines, health supplements and cosmetics. Since 2010, the HSA has recalled 26 products from the market through this program. These products were recalled as they contained undeclared or prohibited ingredients or were not complying with approved specifications or legal limits.

What role is the HSA playing in making Singapore a global life science hub?

The HSA is also an enabler in making Singapore a hub for attracting international investors. Stringent regulations act as a safe zone for international companies to invest in a foreign country and the HSA's smart approach has led the Economic Development Board of Singapore and A*Star to develop it as a biotech hub. The HSA supports the development of dynamic, innovative and sustainable healthcare system and hence a clear regulation is very important.

Also, the HSA has taken some active approach to enable Singapore to be a global life science destination. In order to enable faster market entry of generics drugs, Singapore introduced new evaluation route for generic products in 2011 and reduced the registration process by 50 percent.

We regularly review our approaches and renew our framework in the lines of international standards set by FDA, TGA and the MHRA. We do not want to compromise on medical safety and keep a close watch on the products and their performance. If we have eased the pre-marketing process, then we are stringent on post marketing investigations.