Call of the wild: Singapore businesses still keen on emerging markets

Overseas trips, trade fairs set to resume despite pandemic hiatus, global uncertainties

Annabeth Leow

Published Tue, May 3, 2022 · 05:50 AM

IT WAS late 2019, and Singapore biotech startup Stratificare was all set to begin clinical studies in partnership with experts in Mexico, for a test that might prove able to predict severe cases of dengue.

The tie-up arose from Stratificare's participation in a business delegation accompanying Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on his official visit to that country.

But the novel coronavirus hit – and that made it “very difficult for us to run any clinical study there”, Stratificare chief executive Anthony Chua told The Business Times.

The startup had to fall back on dengue trials in South-east Asia, and also started to look at cancer-related studies in China.

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is just one of the recent challenges to have stymied Singapore companies’ plans in far-flung markets, as overseas travel al…