Groundbreaking Ceremony Of Glaxosmithkline Biological's Vaccine Manufacturing Facility

08 Jun 2006

By Mr Khaw Boon Wan , Minister for Health

Venue: Tuas Biomedical Park

Your Excellency, Mr Marc Calcoen,

Ambassador of the Royal Embassy of Belgium,

Your Excellency, Mr Alan Collins,

British High Commissioner to Singapore;

Mr Patrick Florent,

Senior Vice President, Global Industrial Operations,

GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals;

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen

Thank you for inviting me to this groundbreaking ceremony of GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) latest investment in Singapore.

Singapore and GSK enjoy an excellent relationship which goes back many years. Over this period, your company has also undergone some corporate restructuring which is common in the pharmaceutical industry.

In 1972, Beecham Pharmaceuticals (which is now part of GSK) established the first world-class pharmaceutical plant at Quality Road to produce semi-synthetic penicillin. I visited that plant as a young officer in the Ministry of Health, fresh from university. The management gave me a warm welcome. I had an informative tour of the factory and its processes. It left a deep impression.

In 1982, Glaxo set up a major plant at Pioneer Road to manufacture Ranitidine Hydrochloride, the active ingredient for Zantac, one of the greatest block-buster drugs even invented. These were the first two major pharmaceutical investments in Singapore. You were the early pioneers and laid the strong foundation which nurtured the eventual development of the Biomedical Sciences cluster here.

Over the years, GSK has continually expanded the breadth and depth of its operations here. It is now one of our largest pharmaceutical investors with more than S$1 billion in fixed asset investment and some 800 staff in manufacturing alone.

Today, our excellent partnership with GSK will cross another milestone.

By setting up the vaccine plant here, GSK will have in Singapore one of its only two facilities worldwide for producing bulk bacterial paediatric vaccines against infectious diseases, such as meningitis and typhoid. At more than S$300 million, this will be GSK's largest vaccine manufacturing investment in Asia. At full steam, it will hire more than 200 staff.

From Singapore's perspective, this GSK facility will be our first vaccine manufacturing facility. This is significant for two reasons. First, it will add to our growing base of biologics manufacturing activities and reinforce our position as one strategic global manufacturing node for the BMS industry. Second, vaccines are important weapons in our battle against the spread of infectious diseases. By acquiring this capability to produce vaccines locally, we have further enhanced our preparedness against such outbreaks.

Besides manufacturing, GSK is also a pioneer in conducting clinical trials of vaccines here. From 2001 to 2005, GSK has worked with our polyclinics and hospitals to conduct large scale Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials for Rotarix, a vaccine against rotavirus infection. The clinical trials involved over 9,000 persons. They culminated in the successful registration of Rotarix in Singapore last October, even before it was approved in the US or Europe.

The significance of the Rotarix project was that it showcased both Singapore's clinical research expertise as well as the Health Sciences Authority's capability in evaluating novel therapeutics and vaccines.

Besides clinical trials, Singapore has also been strengthening our basic research capabilities to meet the challenge of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. We have had some successes. For instance, in 2003, the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) sequenced the genetic code of the SARS coronavirus. In the midst of the SARS outbreak, this information was critical to develop robust diagnostic assays for our use. Last year, GIS scored another success when it helped to develop a diagnostic kit to detect avian flu infections in poultry. The diagnostic kit is now widely used in the poultry industry.

In closing, let me congratulate Mr Patrick Florent, his management team and the staff of GSK on the groundbreaking of this exciting project. It is the start of yet another chapter in our tremendously-successful GSK-Singapore partnership. GSK can be assured of the Singapore Government's full support to ensure the smooth implementation of this important investment.

Thank you.