Biologics are forecast to be the fastest growing sector of the pharma industry, with big pharma estimated to be generating around 60 per cent of revenue through biologic products by 2010.
With many companies looking to Asia for cheaper manufacturing options, Singapore is proving an increasingly popular choice and has been steadily adding to the list of firms who have established bases and manufacturing facilities in the country.
The facility that Lonza has now started constructing is its second in the country, and will be a large-scale commercial mammalian cell culture manufacturing plant with up to four mammalian bioreactor trains each with flexible capacity of 1,000 to 20,000 litres.
The facility is being built as part of a joint venture with Singaporean investment management company, Bio*One Capital, and following investment of up to $350m (€262.6m) should be fully operational by 2011.
"This strategic partnership between Lonza and Bio*One has helped to build the biologics manufacturing capabilities and grow a critical mass of biologics activities in Singapore," said Singapore minister for trade and industry, Mr Lim Hng Kiang.
"Within a period of less than two years, four commercial scale biologics manufacturing investments have been announced in Singapore.
All these projects are a strong endorsement of Singapore as a choice site to host world class biologics manufacturing activities."
US-based biotech firm Genentech has also recently made moves in Singapore, lately having entered into a long-term land-lease agreement in the country for the construction and development of a manufacturing facility.
The plant will be a 1,000 litre E.coli manufacturing facility for the worldwide production of the company's drug Lucentis (ranibizumab) for treatment of neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Construction is due to begin later this year with licensure expected by early 2010.
In addition to this, Genentech also has an exclusive option to acquire an 80,000 litre mammalian biopharmaceutical production facility in Singapore from current owners Lonza any time between 2007 and 2012.
The site is expected to be licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2010, and will be available to Genentech for $290m plus $70m in milestone payments.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has also boosted its investment in Singapore over the last year, in June 2006 having made its biggest investment in the area to date with a new primary vaccine manufacturing plant.
The company is planning to spend over $300m over the next four years in the first phase of development of the plant, which will be for the primary production of paediatric vaccines.
Eli Lilly is another major firm increasing its presence in Singapore, having just announced a $150m expansion of its drug discovery research activities in the country.
In partnership with the Singapore Economic Development Board, the improved research facility will focus on epigenetic biology, adult stem cell biology, disease state modelling and computational sciences.
Schering Plough was one of the first pharmas to set up in Singapore back in 1997 with a $260m bulk pharmaceutical manufacturing plant, followed up by a $25m investment in facilities for its dry powder inhaler product, Asmanex (mometasone), in 1999.
Since then the company has continued to invest in the country, and by the time construction is completed on the newest facilities will have half a dozen manufacturing plants in Singapore as well as an R&D site with investment in the area creeping toward $1bn.
The Singaporean sites manufacture Schering's hepatitis C treatment Peg-Intron (peginterferon alpha-2b) and Remicade (infliximab) for Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as Active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished pharmaceutical products.
With pharmaceutical firms increasingly aware of the role biological products are likely to play in the future of the industry, and the potential of biogeneric/biosimilar drugs to erode possible revenues, increased manufacturing capacity for the products at a lower cost is likely to be of key importance.
As Singapore's reputation as a competitive, highly technological, high quality manufacturing location grows, it is likely to attract further interest from pharma companies looking for a cost effective means of establishing and strengthening their presence in the burgeoning biopharmaceutical arena.