Forget chasing the next Pfizer: Singapore’s biotech future lies in innovation, not giants
The Republic may not have a major player to call its own, but licensing deals and early-stage breakthroughs can still count as wins
[SINGAPORE] A quarter-century after the Republic ambitiously set out to build biomedical sciences into an economic pillar, it has yet to produce a home-grown champion on the scale of Denmark’s Novo Nordisk or the United States’ Moderna.
The local ecosystem boasts a solid foundation of research institutions, and a healthy pipeline of startups spanning pre-clinical to late-stage development. Yet, it still has not come up with a blockbuster drug nor a globally recognised brand name that manages a pipeline from the laboratory to the market.
It has come close, though. In 2022, Tessa Therapeutics emerged as a rising star, securing US$126 million in Series A funding to advance clinical development of its immune cell therapies for cancer.
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