Singapore, May 05, 2010: Singapore is taking important step in deepening its skilled workforce for the biomedical manufacturing industry. As the world market becomes more competitive, the demand for skilled employees is becoming greater and it is here Singapore will lay claim to be the place of choice for people and products.

The advances in biology and a better understanding of the human genome are having significant impacts on the global trends in the biopharma industry. New advances in genetically engineered monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic proteins and vaccines are being made. A new class of medicine called biologics is being used to treat life threatening diseases.

It is estimated that as economies in Asian countries continue developing in the next 5–10 years, the biologics will make up greater than one-third of the overall medicines used. Given the importance of the biologics sector, Singapore is actively building capabilities in research, development and manufacturing.

Since 2006, Singapore has seen significant investments in biologics manufacturing as five major companies – Baxter, GSK Biologicals, Lonza, Roche and Novartis have invested over S$ 1.63 billion. Singapore has a couple of biologics manufacturing plants up and running and the first products utilizing these bio processing technologies will get approval only in the later half of the year. As this happens Singapore that is emerging as the biomanufacturing hub of the Asian region will see more companies relocating their operations to Singapore.

Despite being a relatively new industry, the biomedical manufacturing industry has hired over 13,000 people. When these new plants are operational in the next few years another 1000 jobs will be created. To overcome the challenges in fulfilling the requirements of the niche industry, Singapore has embarked on three major initiatives to develop manpower, capability and engineering support, all important assets for biologics manufacturing industry to flourish. First and foremost is recognizing the availability of skilled manpower – a critical success factor for this industry.

The second initiative is building huge capabilities in bioprocess research to ensure the long term sustainability of the biologics manufacturing base. The third initiative is attracting engineering companies with extensive experience in pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. The government believes these initiatives will put Singapore in good stead to support the wave of biotechnology manufacturing investments.

In view of the growing industry needs for skilled manpower in operations, Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) in consultation with industry players has developed Workforce Skill Qualifications (WSQ) higher certificate in process technology for biologics manufacturing and pharmaceutical manufacturing for biomedical industry. The two qualifications will be rolled out jointly by the Biomedical Manufacturing Implementation Committee (BMIC) which comprises of three partners namely Singapore Polytechnic, DPS Engineering (Singapore) and Millipore Singapore.

Unlike traditional modes of training where a single training provider owns the facilities, develops the curriculum and delivers the training BMIC combines the expertise of all three partners (DPS Engineering (Singapore) and Millipore Singapore got the status of Approved Training Organization by WDA) to deliver a suite of training that is not available today. It also provides a single reference point for the industry to gather information on cutting edge knowledge and best practices.

With the formalization of the strategic alliance of BMIC, Singapore is taking another positive step in deepening the talent pool of a skilled workforce for the biomedical manufacturing industry. With more competitive enterprises and a skilled workforce, Singapore will continue to be a premier choice and ideal location for biomedical manufacturing.