US drug giant Amgen opens first next-gen facility in Tuas

Singapore

AMERICAN drug-maker Amgen expects to roll out its products for treating osteoporosis and bone cancers from its new plant in Tuas by the end of 2016. The S$200 million plant in Tuas Biomedical Park is the first next-generation biomanufacturing facility in the world, and is the company's first investment in Singapore and in Asia.

A model of efficiency, it is cheaper to build and run than conventional facilities; it took only a quarter of the capital cost to construct, and will need only a third of the operating expenses of a conventional facility. And 15 months was all it took for it to be built - half the time it takes to build a traditional plant.