Singapore Pursuing Biotechnology
Related News: Stem Cell Companies, Stem Cells and DiabetesSingapore is pushing to be seen as a biotechnology center for world-class research and development where laboratory findings are rapidly converted into working clinical applications.
"We are seeing more companies with a strong interest to locate their R&D facilities in Singapore in order to leverage on Singapore’s capabilities in biomedical sciences research," said Mr Yeoh Keat Chuan, who is the Deputy Director of Biomedical Sciences Group part of the Singapore Economic Development Board. "Three of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis have established corporate R&D centres in Singapore, alongside numerous other biotechnology companies."
Of particular interest to us in the stem cell research field, is ES Cell International Pte. Ltd. (ESI), which incorporated in Singapore back in June 2000, and was one of the first companies established to specifically generate cell therapies from human embryonic stem cells (hESC). ESI currently supplies 6 of the 22 stem cell lines on the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) register.
July of last year, ESI set up its R&D facility at Biopolis in Singapore. In September, 2004, the company was awarded a research grant from the US-based Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to support the development of new, clinically compliant human embryonic stem cell lines. This comes on the back of the NIH resource infrastructure award for hESC research announced in 2004.
"We continue to receive strong validation of ESI’s efforts to realize the enormous therapeutic potential of hESCs," said Chief Executive Officer, ESI, Dr Alan Colman. Dr Colman’s most recognized contribution is working in conjunction with the Roslin Institute to clone ‘Dolly the Sheep’, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell.
Posted on June 27, 2005 12:26 PM