FRENCH healthcare company Sanofi broke ground for a vaccine production facility in Singapore on Wednesday (Apr 20), which is expected to create up to 200 local jobs, while providing greater and flexible vaccine production capacity.

The modular nature of this "evolutive vaccine facility" (EVF) makes it possible to produce 3 to 4 different vaccines simultaneously, in contrast to typical vaccine manufacturing facilities that can only produce 1 type of vaccine at a time.

This will enable more flexible manufacturing of multiple vaccines and biological platforms, including mRNA, enzymes and monoclonal antibodies, the company said in its press statement.

Thomas Triomphe, Sanofi’s executive vice-president of vaccines, said: "The EVF will enable us to significantly increase our production capacity, and adapt rapidly to changing demands for vaccines."

Set for completion in 2025, the plant was first announced in April 2021 as a 400 million euro (S$638 million) investment over 5 years.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, who was guest of honour at the groundbreaking ceremony, said that the facility comes at an opportune time after the past 2 years of the Covid-19 pandemic, in which disruptions and fatalities could have been much greater if not for the development of Covid-19 vaccines.

Covid-19 has reinforced the importance of pandemic preparedness and supply chain resilience, said Heng, who added that Singapore must prepare for the next big pandemic: "Disease X is not a matter of if, but when."

"Vaccines will remain at the heart of how we deal with the threats of infectious diseases," he said. By enhancing Singapore's capacity for manufacturing vaccines, the region will then be in a stronger position for dealing with future pandemics and ensuing economic shocks.

Facilitating vaccine production in Singapore will also allow the country to "push new frontiers of innovation" in vaccine manufacturing and biomedical sciences, he added.

Dr Beh Swan Gin, chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board, said that Sanofi's decision to locate this facility here will strengthen Singapore's biopharmaceutical industry and manufacturing sector.

Meanwhile, Sanofi picked Singapore for a multitude of factors, including the presence of a “unique ecosystem” that can support the company’s operations, said Triomphe. 

“(The facility) requires not only financial investment, but more importantly, a lot of different competencies,” he told The Business Times.

This includes the level of academic institutions and universities, presence of startups and innovation hubs, as well as government support through the various agencies and a strong regulatory framework.  

The facility will be managed by a largely Singaporean team, led by site head Koh Liang Hong. Hiring has been going as planned, said Triomphe, with a focus on expertise beyond the usual biomanufacturing. 

“Machine learning specialists, data scientists and artificial intelligence specialists are going to be new profiles that are very important (for the facility),” he said.