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DIRECTORY OF SINGAPORE PROCESS & CHEMICALS INDUSTRIES 2021/2022
BioNTech, the German biotechnology company which worked with Pfizer to develop the first Covid-19 vaccine to be approved by authorities globally.
More importantly, Singapore biotech start- ups are attracting serious money from venture funds. Data from financial services company Preqin show that in the first half of 2021, Singapore start-ups raised over US$360 million, trumping the previous US$65.5 million record raised in 2018 by more than five times.
Esco Lifesciences Group, which pivoted from washing laboratory gowns to manufacturing laboratory and biopharma equipment, led the way raising US$200 million in its latest funding round in May 2021 from some of the world’s biggest healthcare investors, Denmark’s Novo Holding and US’ Vivo Capital. In the same month, Hummingbird Bioscience raised US$125 million, while Engine Biosciences, which applies machine learning and genomics to discover precision medicine-based therapies for cancer and other diseases, raised US$43 million.
2020 was a stellar year for Singapore pharmaceuticals. With a steady inflow of investment, the industry can look to even better days ahead, putting Singapore on course to be a leading biotech destination for research, manufacturing and commercialisation.
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