tm241 case study version3

7/23/2019 TM241 Case Study Version3

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TM 241; RDP-02Foreign Case Study

Introduction:

There are more than 4,000 specialized biotechnology companies worldwide. Themost well-known companies are located in the USA and Europe, but there are signiicantcompaniesemerging in !anada, Australia,"ew#ealand and throughout Asia $ particularly in%apan.

&ost o these companies are small with limited inances which made an impact on theoutput o the industry in terms o new drugs.'rom the early ()*+s to the late ())+s thebiotechnology industry was steadily increasing. oweer, year +++ showed a decline innew drug output. In act, according to the !&/ International /eportin 2002, only 28 newmolecular entities were launched globally, the lowest in over twenty years. The decline in newdrug output was perplexing during that period given that many companies in the industry havebeen increasing their research and development expenditure on a regular basis over thedecade. Some industry observers believe that there was an innovation de!icit" brought aboutby the many companies# lac$ o! new ideas and methodologies. %ritics within thegeneral publicbelieve that the industry is producing too many new drugs that aresimilar to each other whicho!!er littleclinical advantage over those already onthe global mar$et.To prevent !urther slippage,the industry turned to biotechnology to provide a continuing innovation in &'( which hopes to

lead to a new generation o! medical treatments.

0uring this period the global biomedical sciences industry is conronted with the need toimproe/'( productivity and bridge healthcare needs in !ast)growing regions suchas *sia.+lobal companies thenexplored *sia#s complexities and diversity to tap into the region#smar$ets.Singapore was seen as the ideal location to develop solutions that may deliver signi!icantimpact on theglobal healthcare because o! its strong &'(capabilities, central locationand networ$s withregional mar$ets.*s a trusted location with a provenmanu!acturing trac$record !or speed anduality, Singapore enables companies tomanu!acture high uality drugsand medicaldevices across various modalities.%urrently, global companies and *sianenterprisesali$e use Singapore as a base to driveexpansion in *sian and international mar$ets.

This paper hopes to study the e1periences, strategies and methods o one o! the mostsuccess!ul companiesin the Asian /egion in theield o biotechnology industry.

2eriew o the !ompany and its 3usinesses

The Company

Adanced, Innoatie, Trusted 4AIT5 3iotech !ompany started as a molecular sericecompany in ++* oering se6uencing technologies and 0"A probe manuacturing. Thecompany was ormed by two entrepreneurs:

Ale1 Thian an I7 attorney with a speciali8ation in international protection o intellectual property rights, corporate structuring o technology inestments andcommerciali8ation and e1ploitation o inentions. e was also the e1ternal legaladisor o "ational Science and Technology 3oard and Singapore productiityand standards board rom ())+ to +++. In addition &r. Thian is also the legaladisor to the Institute o &aterials /esearch and Engineering and the Scienceand Technology 9roup o companies. e has an e1tensie e1perience inincubating startups due to his e1periences in orming Startups.com and + other technology startups between +++ and ++.

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A

B C


Sue ap is a biologist by training and an &3A graduate. er e1perience in/esearch 3iolabs rom 0"A se6uencing up to research and deelopment o diagnostic products is a key to the ormation o AIT.

Business

The initial business oered by the irm is on molecular serice. 7resently this is one onthe strong areas o the company not only in Singapore but also in the whole Asian/egion. The molecular serice that the company oers are:

2ligonucleotide synthesis0"A Se6uencing9ene synthesis"e1t 9eneration Se6uencing!ustom 9enomic Serices 4e.g cloning, computational analysis5

AIT entured on the deelopment o innoatie &olecular 0iagnostics 4&015 assays in

close collaboration with Singapore;s leading research institutions and hospital. The

company oers a wide range o diagnostic kits that are high speciicity and sensitiity:

Inectious disease testing 4respiratory, blood-borne, se1ually transmitted, organ

transplant, tropical diseases5.

%ancer detection- ncology /ung %ancer and %olon %ancer1

*pplied Testing /eterinary and 3orensics1

The irm is currently e1panding to do /'( wor$ on the interaction o! human genes and itse!!ect on the e!!icacy o! drugs /harmacogenomics1. This type o! &'( is now considered anadvanced technology which is a huge leap !or the company.

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3igure 5. The main services and products o!!ered by *6T biotech /*1 Seuencing o! (7* using the next generation seuencing plat!orm /1 (eveloped diagnostic $its !or in!ectious diseases /%1 (etection $its !or detecting contaminants in the !ood industry.

Aside rom proiding molecular serices and diagnostics the company also went intobeing a supplier o laboratory consumables and e6uipment. Eppendor A9 which is aknown brand in the ield o bioscience made AIT its oicial distributor in Singapore 4AIT3iotech, +((5. 2ther molecular biology products being distributed by AIT are en8ymesrom "ew England 3iolabs and 7uriication kits.

The ourth and the newest business o AIT is in the ield o business entures. Thecompany together with the Singaporean 9oernment encourages commerciali8ation o technologies wherein AIT will gie the necessary consultancy. In line with businessenturing, AIT has also become a technology incubator which currently houses threestartups:

hoenix 9olecular te. td is a !irm that develops and integrates three disruptivetechnologies into a single system which by de!inition will change the mar$et inmolecular testing by creating a simple, cost e!!ective, !ully integrated system that canbe utilized in military, industrial public health and human-veterinary diagnostics mar$et.

:ealthse *sia te. td is a company that is in the cloud computing !ield mainly on theanalysis o! genomes. The technology that it is currently developing is said to be aplat!orm !or the delivery o! genome driven personalized medicines, analysis o! clinicaltrials and management o! pharmaceutical clinical data.

*l iomedical te td on the other hand !ocuses on developing and providing oint o! %are and (irect to %onsumer healthcare and diagnostics products.

Aside rom proiding molecular biology solutions and consultancy AIT biotech isinoled in deeloping the skill set o Singaporean researchers by oering training onmolecular biology.

2eriew o the !ountry and Industry !onte1t

Singapore

Singapore is a ormer 3ritish colony which gained its independence as the /epublic o Singapore in August ), ()<= under the leadership o >ee ?uan ew. The irst years o thecountry was characteri8ed by instability due to seeral riots. >ee ?uan ew was able tooerturn this instability by rapid economicgrowth, support or business entrepreneurshipand limited internal democracy making it a irst world country.

The land area o Singapore presently is @().( km rom an area o =*(.= km in ()<+4Statistics Singapore, +(5 though there are seeral reclamation proBects still in the

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works the area o Singapore is still small. The country population is currently aboe =million rom a preious population o million in +++.

In terms o education Singapore has ocused on e6uipping its citi8ens with strongmathematics and science background. Trends in International &athematics and Sciencestudy conducted by the International Association or the Ealuation o Educational

Achieement ranks Singapore in the top three eery year since ())= and Singaporestudents also ranked in the world in terms o world in terms o mathematics, science,and reading in the ++) 7rogramme or International Student Assessment, conducted bythe 2rganisation or Economic !o-operation and 0eelopment 42E!05.

Tracing the strategy of Singapore

In the start o Singapore during the ()<+s the country was labor intensie due to itspoorly educated workorce, labor conlicts, high unemployment and a rapidly growingpopulation 47oh, +(+5

The type o labor being employed was eectie up to the mid-()@+s when Singapore was

aced by competition coming rom neighbor countries on low-tech industries and high-tech manuacturing rom deeloped countries. In order to be competitie Singaporedecided to slowly abandon its strategy into skill-intensie high-alue added, technologyintensie industries such as electronics manuacturing and petrochemicals. 2neapproach to reach this target is to e1pand engineering education while proiding undingin order or older workers to retool themseles.

In ()*=, Singapore aced its irst maBor recession and since then the goernmentstrategi8ed into looking or new areas o economic growth. Singapore strategy is tomoe beyond manuacturing into areas such as /'( and supply chain management. Thegovernment also made e!!orts to encourage multinational companies to establish operationalheaduarters in Singapore in order to support regional operations.

The problem o Singapore in the ())+s is to remain competitie against its competitors,howeer the country has a small population with limited land area and limited resources.3ecause o this the goernment concluded that part o their strategic moe is to promotestrong intellectual capital that in turn would deelop into knowledge intensie irms andgenerate high alue added Bobs or Singaporeans.

The Biotechnology landscape of Singapore

In the late ())+s Singapore identiied the ield o biomedical science as an area intowhich they could speciali8e on together with other ields such as chemistry, electronicsand engineering. This is the time when the whole genome se6uencing proBect headed by

the United States is being conductedC Singapore cited this area as an area into whereinthere is tremendous growth potential. The ield o biomedical science has been seen bySingapore as a totally dierent ield o speciali8ation as compared to the other three keyields. 'irst is that biomedical science would re6uire an entire alue chain in Singaporeranging rom basic research to clinical trials, productDprocess deelopment, ull-scalemanuacturing and healthcare deliery 42kamoto, ++)5. Another actor that was seen isthat unlike the electronics cluster that relies on a large anchor company withsurrounding supply chains the biomedical science relies in the laboratories o

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uniersities or public research institutes. The ield is highly dependent on scientiicknowledge as compared to the well-established ields o engineering and chemistry.

In the irst phase between the year +++ to ++=, Singapore placed key building blocksand programs that would establish core scientiic biomedical research capabilities bybuilding up its human, intellectual and industrial capacity.

3eore the start o the biotechnology clusters in Singapore there was already a strongpresence o oreign pharmaceutical companies. These companies hae been attracted toestablish irms in Singapore in to manuacture pharmaceuticals and at the same timemake a strong presence in the ASEA" region. The presence o these pharmaceuticalirms has a positie eect on the biotechnology industry o SingaporeC since the ield o pharmaceutical is going to touch biotechnology, seeral o the oreign pharmaceuticalirms in Singapore made oreign direct inestments:

/oche established its translational medicine hub with + scientists partneringwith Singapore;s scientiic and medical institutions. These hub was built toaccelerate drug discoery and deelopment.

3ayer ealthcare inested an additional SF(.= million in ie proBects with localacademic institutions to adance /'( to improve early diagnosis and treatment o! cancer. *dditionally, +laxoSmith;line /+S;1 established its !irst *cademic %entre o! <xcellence in Singapore and its !irst !our pro=ects !ocusing on early)stage research inophthalmology, regenerative medicine and neuro)degeneration to elucidate newmechanisms o! action !or innovative medicines.

The goernment o Singapore is the main moer or the creation o a biotechnologyindustry, in its commitment the goernment built 3iopolis which is a F++ million acilitydedicated or /'( e!!orts o! both pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The !acilitycurrently houses more than 2000 scientists and is euipped with cutting edge technology !or research. The biopolis complex /3igure 21 is divided into !ive ma=or institutes>

Institute o molecular and cell biologyInstitute o bioengineering and nanotechnology9enome institute o Singapore3ioprocessing Institute o Singapore3ioinormatics Institute

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'igure . The 3iopolis comple1 in Singapore where /'( on biomedical sciencesare concentrated

In terms o e6uipping the population with research capabilities, the goernment o Singapore led by AGstar increased the number o people pursuing adanced graduatedegrees. According to report by AGstar the rate o researchers to workers in ())+ is*:(++++ and **:(++++ in ++)C in ())+ there are )@+ 7h0s while <@=( in ++). Thenumber o publication alone in ++= has also increased with a total o ++ scientiicpapers in the world;s top scientiic Bournal and ) in ++@ 42kamoto, ++)5.

!ompany Hision, 9oals, and Attitudes/egarding Technological >earning and !atch-up

Goal

The goal p AIT is to become a leader in the ield o biotechnology in the Asian region. Itaims to proide diagnostic products and molecular biology applications in Singaporeand the rest o the Asian countries.

Attitude Regarding Technological Learning and Catch-up

According to &r. Thian, a biotech irm such as AIT biotech needs seeral actors to besuccessul in a ery small market such as Singapore. The so call ingredientsJ to thriein the biotechnology industry are:

9A7 analysis o the demand and alue o the product that the company

intends to oer.

Intellectual properties that should be generated in order or a company to

thrie and innoate.

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/esources and research that is needed to ind new aenues or growth. Kith

this he cited the partnership with the goernment or startup unding andhiring oreign consultants or e1pertise.

>ongeity that is the result o continuous innoation

Structure and system which is what can be seen in AIT now as it transormsinto a more comple1 company rom /'( up to a technology incubator.

>ooking at these ie ingredientsC it can be deduced that AIT as a company is ery opento dierent methods in order to catch up in the ield o biotechnology. It encouragesinnoation ia research and also placed strong emphasis on the contribution o thepeople in the company and goernment support.

Technology Ac6uisition &ethods Used by the !ompany

Internal R &D with networking

The /'( o! *6T was internal, ma$ing use o! the data that coming !rom existing =ournals andcon!erences on molecular biology. e!ore conducting the internal &'(, *6T hired the peoplewho had the $now)how on ma$ing diagnostic $its. 6t has also made networ$s with the academe.

Seizing tacit knoledge

Another branch o AIT is on se6uencing, the ac6uisition o AIT or this technology cameby standard learning process which started rom being trained by e6uipment suppliers.The techni6ues or this process was then urther optimi8ed by the e1periencedtechnicians and has since then grown.

'or the deelopment o diagnostics, the internal /'( on the development o! the :575 realtime diagnostic $it paved the way !or the researchers to gain experience in optimizing the rightcomposition o! the products. Though there are no written indication, it can also be possible thatthe data coming !rom the seuencing branch o! *6T can be used to ma$e the diagnostic $its.

Re!erse engineering

"o indication that the company has made eorts in reerse engineering. 3ut the originalcompany o &r. Thian is a distribution company that oers diagnostic kits. Since sellingthe company, &r. Thian established AIT and made diagnostic kits. This could possibly bea moe that is being done by the company presently as it becomes a local supplier or

molecular biology e6uipment and laboratory supplies distributor.Technology prospecting

Since the company has been producing diagnostic kits or inectious diseases. Itdierged its eort into deeloping diagnostic kits or cancer and detection kits in theield eterinary medicine and orensics. Another ield that the company is pursuing is theield o pharmacogenomics.

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R &D Strategic partnership

AIT entered a new ield in the orm o a priate sector serice proider in cooperationwith the Singapore Standards, 7roductiity and Innoation 3oard 4S7/I"95. AIT wascommissioned to assist in identiying, deeloping and commerciali8ing I7s in the ield o medical technology. It was awarded a und o F million to assist researches in the

"ational Uniersity o Singapore and "anyang Technological Uniersity.

"oint !enture ith technology pro!ider

AIT has ormed an alliance with Eppendor which is a well-known brand in the molecular bioscience ield. Additionally, AIT has ormed also an alliance with 30 biosciences whichis a leading brand in diagnostics. 30 will be the supplier o AIT kits that are compatiblewith the 30 e6uipment or diagnostics.

#iring indi!idual specialists

2ne o the important technology ac6uisition method by AITC the company cited the hiring

o two o the most important consultants:

0r. Eric Kilkinson who is a technology consultant rom the United States. e has+ years o e1perience in the ield o biotechnology as a scientist and e1ecutie.0uring his career he was able to establish = biotech companies and managedI72s.

0r. 0aid ?lin8ig who was irst based in the 7hilippines as a scientist consultantor the biosureillance o inectious disease and genomic technologies. e is nowthe deputy director o technology in AIT.

$urchasing technology

This e1ternal method is the earliest orm o ac6uisition o AIT. 3ased on records thecompany started as a serice company oering se6uencing and manuacturing o oligonucleotide probes. Since there are no I7s on these technology, AIT purchased themachine and started doing serices. The initial procurement o AIT or the ne1tgeneration se6uencers were considered a ailure since &r. Ale1 Thian mentioned that thee6uipment became obsolete ater years.

Technological >earning and !atch-up Undertaken by the !ompany

Unlike the other industry, biotechnology /'( to develop diagnostic $its are relativelysimpler. The euipment needed can be small and cheap.

The biotechnology industry relies heay on the know-how o the personnel. &oreimportantly are data analysis and the knowledge on molecular leel interaction o biological materials. In the case o AIT and Singapore, the inestment primarily is onpersonnel irst is to attract the talent coming abroad and deelop the knowledge in thecountry. Second is the establishment o acilities that would enable /'( to be conductedat a high level, one answer to this need is the creation o! iopolis that !ostered innovation alongby the creation o! an environment where research collaboration is encouraged.

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"ational 7olicies Aecting Technological !apability-3uilding o the !ompany

Singaporehas atremendouseconomictransormation since gaining independence romthe United ?ingdom oer =+years ago. Inthe()<+;s Singapore had a low employment

and education rate. In ()<(, the Economic 0eelopment 3oard4E035wassetuptoe1ecuteeconomicstrategiestospur economic growth. Among these strategies was toattract oreign inestor to create Bobs or Singaporeans. In the decades that ollowedSingapore deeloped seeral key industries, meeting the obBectie o economicgrowth while also raising the skill leel o its citi8ens.Singaporenowstriestodeelopintoaknowledgeeconomy continues to push oreigncompaniesto innoate,inestintheirpeopleandcreatehighalueBobs.

'igure(:Singapore;seconomy4Source:"/'5

Singapore;s /L0 policy

Agency or Science, Technology and /esearch 4AGSTA/5

In ())+, the Singapore goernment created the "ational Science and Technology 3oardto implement the country;s irst ie year national technology plan to boost the nation;s

economy and push it towards becoming knowledge intensie. Kith a budget o SFbillion, the "ST3 was tasked with deeloping Singapore as an / '( hub by boostingcompetitiveness through science and technology.

'rom ())< to +++, the board implemented its second ie year plan, which sawinestment in /'( doubled to S?4 billion. *!ter recognizing the potential o! the biomedicalsciences, the Singaporean government sought to establish biomedical sciences as one o! the$ey pillars o! the Singaporean economy through the creation o! the iomedical Sciences6nitiative.

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3y ++, the "ational Science and Technology 3oard was renamed to its current name,the Agency or Science, Technology and /esearch 4AGSTA/5. AGSTA/ is the largestpublic /'( organization and is !unded by the country#s 9inistry o! Trade and 6ndustry. *@ST*&see$s to strengthen $nowledge development in Singapore and to support innovation throughcollaboration with industrial partners and create an economic impact that bene!its the entirenation. 6t is now one o! the leaders o! scienti!ic research and consists o! 54 research institutes

which !ocus on biomedical sciences and physical sciences ' engineering.

Kith the biomedical sciences identiied as a new growth area in Singapore, goernmentinestments in research continued to riseC with SF< billion budgeted or ++( to ++=,and a urther SF(.) billion in the ++< to +(+ science and technology plan.

3y +(+, public e1penditure on research and deelopment doubled, rom +.M to +.*M o the 907, while the number o research scientists in the public sector 6uadrupled, tonearly (,+++. This steadily increasing national research budget relects the importancegien by the Singaporean goernment to science, technology and research and echoesits alue to the nation;s growth and deelopment.

/esearch, Innoation and Enterprise !ouncil 4/IE!5

To urther support the deelopment o a knowledge intensie economy, the /esearch,

Innoation and Enterprise !ouncil 4/IE!5 was set up in ++<. It is chaired by the7rime &inister and gies adice to the Singapore !abinet on national research andinnoation policies and strategies. The /IE! has an operational diision called the"ational /esearch 'oundation 4"/'5 which is assigned to deelop and coordinatenational policies related to research and innoation. Eery ie years, the /IE! deelopsa national /'( master plan. 6n the council#s &esearch, 6nnovation and <nterprise /&6<1 205A,the Singapore government committed to spend S?5B.5 billion in research, innovation andenterprise between 2055 and 205A with the ob=ective o! establishing Singapore as a world)class&'( hub. The /IE +(= has a strong ocus on multidisciplinary and public-priate

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research. Singapore wants to improe the transormation rom innoation to enterpriseby proiding unds to support industry collaboration and stiumlate researchers tocommerciali8e their innoations.

A signiicant part o public e1penditure goes to 3iomedical science and receies .Mo unding. This aligns with the research priorities o "/', which are 3iomedical

Sciences, Interactie ' (igital 9edia en hysical Sciences ' <ngineering. Table 5 gives anoverview o! research areas, which speci!ically relate to the application o! high tech systemsand materials.

The 3iomedical Sciences InitiatieIn +++, Singapore launched its 3iomedical Sciences 43&S5 initiatie to deelop the3iomedical Sciences industry as one o the economy;s key pillars o growth. The 3&Sinitiatie is led by the /IE! and is chaired by 7rime &inister and coordinated by a 3&SE1ecutie !ommittee, chaired by AGSTA/ !hairman and the 7ermanent Secretary or ealth. This E1ecutie !ommittee in turn consults with the 3iomedical SciencesInternational Adisory !ouncil 43&S IA!5 which is composed o renowned scientists.

Three key agencies work together to deelop the 3&S cluster. These three groups arethe AGSTA/;s 3iomedical /esearch !ouncil 43&/!5, the Economic 0eelopment 3oardNs4E035 3iomedical Sciences 9roup 43&S95 and the &inistry o ealth;s 4&25 "ational&edical /esearch !ouncil 4"&/!5.

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Chen the iomedical Sciences 6nitiative was created in 2000, three phases o! implementationwere identi!ied.

7hase ( 4+++-++=5: 3uilding the 'oundation- The !irst phase o! development /2000)200A1!ocused on establishing a !irm !oundation o! basic biomedical research in Singapore bydeveloping core public research capabilities in the areas o! bioprocessing, chemical synthesis,genomics and proteomics, molecular and cell biology, bioengineering and nanotechnology, andcomputational biology to support the 9S cluster, comprising the !our $ey sectors>pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical technology and healthcare services.

7hase 4++<-+(+5: Strengthening Translational and !linical /esearch !apabilities- Thesecond phase o! development /200B)20501 !ocuses on strengthening capabilities in translationaland clinical research, while continuing to build up basic research capabilities.7hase 4+((-+(=5: !apturing 2pportunities or 9reater Economic and ealth Impact-uilding on this !oundation created over the last 50 years, 9&% will support the next phase o!the 9S 6nitiative through !ocusing its e!!orts in D main areas to capture the growingopportunities arising !rom global trends in the 9S industry.

5. <nhanced 6ndustry <ngagements !or +reater <conomic utcomes2. 3ocusing on 9ission)riented rograms with high growth potentialD. Seamless integration and translation as $ey competitive advantages

!ommerciali8ation

The Singaporean 9inistry o! Trade and 6ndustry#s S&67+ see$s to ma$e Singaporeancompanies more competitive by helping enterprises with !inancing, commercialization o! innovation and access to mar$ets. *mong the commercialization programs o! S&67+ are thestart)up !inancing program called Start)up <nterprise (evelopment Scheme, and the &'(

!unding program called the Technological <nterprise %ommercialization Scheme.

7ublic-7riate 7artnerships

Cith strong government support, Singapore has established a strong trac$ record and!oundation in biomedical sciences manu!acturing and &'( activities. *s such, Singaporecontinuous to remain open to partnerships between the public sector &'( institutions withleading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. 3or &oche established its Singapore:ub !or Translational 9edicine and ayer :ealthcare invested an additional S?54.A million in!ive pro=ects with local academic institutions to advance &'( to improve early diagnosis andtreatment o! cancer.

6n recent years, other pharmaceutical companies have also partnered or collaborated with *@ST*& and other government institutions.

• 9accine is collaborating with *@ST*&#s Singapore io imaging %onsortium to !orm acomprehensive Translational 6maging 6ndustrial ab /T661 to push the boundaries instate)o!)the)art preclinical imaging to enhance the drug development process.

• Siena iotech is partnering *@ST*&#s <xperimental Therapeutics %entre to developmolecular inhibitors o! a ma=or signaling pathway in oncology to target di!!icult)to)treat!orms o! cancer such as gastric cancer, leu$emia and brain tumors.

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• :umalys S*S and %ytos iotechnology are wor$ing with the Singapore 6mmunology7etwor$ to develop antibody)based therapies !or in!ectious diseases that are prevalentin *sia.

• 7ovartis /which houses more than 500 researchers !rom 58 nationalities at the 7ovartis6nstitute !or Tropical (iseases1 teamed up with the *@ST*&, and other institutions andhave discovered a new drug against malaria called spiroindolone 76T(B0E.

• +S; iologicals and *@ST*&#s ioprocessing Technology 6nstitute collaborated on theS?2 million public)private partnership on vaccine and ad=uvant system)related researchpro=ects. 6n 200E.

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=.@ Analysis o the !ritical Success 'actors in the !ompany;s Technology Ac6uisition,>earning, and !atch-up

The story o! Singaporean Small and 9edieum<nterpirse /S9<1, *6Tbiotech, is another greatexample o! how public and private sectors can partner to drive impact in SingaporeFs healthcareand biomedical industries.

The !irst success!ul collaboration o! *6Tbiotech with the public sector was in 2050, when thecompany acuired several moleculardiagnostic licenses !rom *@ST*& !or multiple pathogendetection and surveillance assays including the :575, (engue, %hi$ungunya andTuberculosis. These assays were developed at the *@ST*& 6nstitute o! 9olecular and %elliology and the <xperimental Therapeutics %entre.

*ccording to *@ST*&, *6Tbiotech was able to success!ully commercialize the assays under itsabT<S brand. *6Tbiotech now manu!actures these assays in its 6S 5D48A certi!ied lab inSingapore and are providing hospitals, labs and clinicians a time and cost saving tool to detectas well as to di!!erentiate the nature and type o! in!luenza or dengue in!ection with enhancedhigh sensitivity and precision. roper diagnosis and treatment o! patients directly bene!it the

health care sector in Singapore and the region in the !ight against in!ectious diseases. 3urther,the assays have generated sales and are being used in hospitals in Thailand, :ong ;ong,9alaysia, 6ndonesia and Singapore.

The second collaboration was in 2052, when *@ST*& and *6Tbiotech =ointly development o! an:A75*vian 6n!luenza real)time %& assay. 6t is the most comprehensive and rapid :A75 burd!lu test $it available to date. Cithin a !ew hours, the assay can rapidly detect all existing A2genetic variants o! the :A75 *vian 6n!luenza viruses and their respective sub)groups in a singletest with almost 500G accuracy. *t the time, the standard o! the Corld :ealth rganization/C:1 !or :A75 detection was D out o! the 50 distinct genetic variants per test and to detect allexisting strains with this method would reuire several days and rounds o! testing.

These $its were developed by *@ST*& and iothech, but with !inancial support !rom S&67+Singapore#s Technology 6nnovation rogramme /T61, and a!ter its success!ul collaborations,

*6Tbotech partnership with S67+ has evolved.

6n 205D, S&67+ Singapore set aside ?50 million !und to help S9<s in the medical and cleantechnology sectors develop and commercialize technology ideas into products and services. *spart o! the initiative, S&67+ appointed three private sector providers to act as translators/STs1,*6Tbiotech was one o! the companies. *s a ST, the company will identi!y, develop andcommercialize 6ntellectual roperty /61 !or the medical technology industry. The STs willidenti!y suitable 6 and help develop these into usable technology !or their S9< clients. :ence,the STs will do the =ob o! translating" lab research into wor$ing prototypes which can becommercialized into innovative products and services.

*ccording to S&67+, such technology)based products will put S9<s in a stronger position tocompete in an increasingly competitive and crowded mar$etplace, where those with nichecapabilities will be !aced with higher barriers to entry. esides the translation o! 6, the STs willprovide &'( services such as validation and !easibility studies. * total o! 40 6 translationpro=ects and 200 &'( services will be underta$en by the STs over the next three years.

*ccording to *lex Thian, the !ounder and %< o! *6Tbiotech, licensing these sophisticatedassays !rom *@ST*& gave their company a springboard they needed to compete in the highly

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competitive mar$et o! 9olecular (iagnostics. Thian also said that one !or !or S9<s to staycompetitive is by public private partnerships li$e the one it has with *@ST*&.

*6Tbiotech has 40 employees wor$ing exclusively on product development and services in a50,000 s!t state)o!)art and 6S 5D48A 6()certi!ied laboratory in Science ar$ 6, which allowsthem to conduct molecular diagnostic technology development and production as well as (7*

seuencing and production.

!omparison o the company;s technological learning and capabilities with those o itsprincipal 7hilippine counterpart.

The medical technology sector in the 7hilippines is highly dependent on imports.'oreign suppliers usually appoint a licensed distributor to sell their products in7hilippines. Usually, the distributors handle all aspects o importation rom registrationo the products to obtaining a license and clearance. The local distributor not only helpsacilitate the product;s entry into the market, but also assumes responsibility or adertising and promotion through sales and dealer networks.

It is the same in Singapore wherein oreign companies appoint a local distributor torepresent their company;s products and serices. The ounder o AITbiotech, &r. Ale1Thian, started irst a distribution company in Singapore. This distribution companybrought in SA/S diagnostics kits rom 9ermany during the ++ SA/S crisis anddistributed them to hospitals. oweer, they sold the distribution company to amultinational corporation reali8ing that the products were ery e1pensie and decided touse the knowledge he had obtained rom distributing the products to start his owncompany, AITbiotech, in ++*.

AITbiotech is not Bust a distributor o imported medical technology products but also amolecular serice company oering se6uencing technologies and 0"A probemanuacturing. They hae become a leading proider o genomic serices and molecular

diagnostic kits to the research, healthcare and biomedical industries in Singapore andAsia.

AITbiotech has also secured IS2 (*=:++ certiication, or design, deelopment andmanuacturing o IH0 medical deices or detection o inectious diseasesC andmanuacturing o oligonucleotides and se6uencing serices. Kith the certiicationAITbiotech will be able to obtain !E certiication or its molecular diagnostics assays.The company was the irst genomic serices proider in Asia to secure (*=:++certiication or its genomic serices., AITbiotech continues to transorms into a more comple1 company rom /'( up to atechnology incubator. The company initiates and sets up a new division, *6Tventures, to

commercialize li!e science and diagnostic technologies in Singapore. uilding on in)housecapabilities and global networ$ o! consultants AITentures will be able to proidecommerciali8ation serices to public institutions as well as start-ups in the areas o diagnostic technologies commerciali8ation including prototyping, clinical trials, productand process deelopment, manuacturing and regulatory compliance.

Important learnings and lessons or 7hilippine companies

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Singapore has position itsel as an attractie location to conduct biomedical sciencesand medical technology research. It has inested to build up key / '( in!rastructures andcapabilities to support the country#s biomedical initiative. The government o! Singapore alsoprovided !unds to help S9<s in the medical technology sector to develop and commercializetechnology ideas into products and serices. AITbiotech was appointed as a priatesector translator that will identiy, deelop and commerciali8e Intellectual 7roperty or the

medical technology.

AITbiotech has successully deeloped and commerciali8ed innoatie &olecular 0iagnostics assays through its internal /'( and close collaboration with Singapore#sleading research institutions and healthcare providers. Cith their experience and expertise in9olecular (iagnostics they were able to manu!acture made)in)Singapore 9olecular (iagnosticsassays. They have proved that getting things right and hiring the right people could lead to adomestic mar$et opportunity as well as setting up the right manu!acturing capabilities.

7hilippine companies can ollow the model o AIT3iotech. AITbiotech started as a localdistributor o imported products but they reali8ed that they can manuacture their ownproducts through building their own capability by conducting internal /'( and

collaborating with the public sector, research institutes and healthcare providers. They haveta$en advantage on the $nowledge and experience in distributing imported products in creatingtheir own products and serices and they hae build their own e1pertise and capacity. oweer, it is important or the goernment o the 7hilippines to help nurture localcompanies by proiding unds to deelop and commerciali8e technology ideas intoproducts and serices. >ack o early stage unding is a key actor limiting innoation inmedical technology. Incenties should be place to reward deeloping market appropriateproducts.

/ecently, a 7hilippine 3iomedical 0eice Innoation !onsortium 4730I!5 was set up topae the way in deeloping biomedical deices and products in the 7hilippines. It

recogni8es the need to deelop aordable, sae, and reliable deices and products or research and deelopment. It aims to consolidate, design and implement actiities thatwill support the biomedical deice innoation ecosystem.

Through the goernment;s initiatie and the support o the priate sector, the 7hilippinescould ollow Singapore;s model and create an ecosystem or medical technologyinnoation which will translate innoatie medical technologies into local products andserices.

!onclusion

AITbiotech ac6uired the knowledge in product commerciali8ation through their

e1perience in distribution o imported products. As an S&E, making the leap romdeelopment to building a market iable product would be relatiely diicult or AITbiotech compared to a &ulti-national corporation. To oercome the challenges,AITbiotech collaborated with the public sector, research institute, and healthcareproiders to translate their innoatie medical technology into products and serices.

Through collaboration, AITbiotech was able to get support and build their capacity ande1pertise in identiying and commerciali8ing innoatie medical technology into

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products and serices. They also reduced their dependence on imported medicaltechnology and they were able to manuacture their own products.

/eerences

AIT 3iotech 7ress /elease %uly <, +(( 4http:DDwww.aitbiotech.comDwp-contentDuploadsDAITbiotech-Eppendor-7ress-/elease-<th-%uly-+((.pd5

Statistics Singapore $ >atest 0ata $ 7opulation ' and *rea /9id)Hear <stimates1I.Statistics Singapore. %une +(. /etrieed = September +(.

7oh, >!. +(+. Innoation 7olicy around the Korld: Singapore: 3etting on 3iomedicalSciences. Issues in Science and Technology. ol 2B 6ssue D

2kamoto, . ++). !reating a 3iotechnology !luster: >essons to learn rom Singapore;sE1perience.0oshisha Uniersity 7olicy Studies 45.()*-(@.

AGSTA/.&ind to &arket, an ET7> /IE +(= &idterm /eport. %une +(=.

Han der 0rit, S. +(. "etherlands Enterprise Agency.Innoation >andscape inSingapore.

BiosSpectrum. AITbiotech gets ISO certicate for genomic services. October2012

.pchr!.!ost.gov.ph"in!e#.php"nes"$%&'(pb!ic(to(pave(the(a)(in(!eve*oping(biome!(!evices(an!(pro!ucts(in(rp

Singapore Biotech +ui!e 201$"201,. Overvie of Singapore-s Biome!ica*Sciences In!ustr). www.biotechsingapore.com/

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http://www.pchrd.dost.gov.ph/index.php/news/4379-pbdic-to-pave-the-way-in-developing-




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