SINGAPORE - Singapore investment arm Bio*One Capital plans to spend about US$300 million in the next two years on biologics and medical device companies, as it aims to take the city-state's biomedical pipeline further downstream.
Bio*One will also announce details soon of a joint venture to build a new production facility in Singapore, the island's biggest biomedical investment this year, chief executive Chu Swee-Yeok told Reuters in an interview.
She declined to say how much cash Bio*One would put in, but said the biologics investment would top US$300 million.
Singapore's biomedical initiative took off in 2000, helped in large part by government venture capital funds, as part of a drive to diversify the trade-dependent economy. Bio*One was tasked with hunting for opportunities in Singapore and abroad with an eye to create economic spin-offs for the city-state.
The venture capital firm began by investing heavily in small-molecule drug discovery companies. But Ms Chu said this part of its portfolio is fast maturing as firms such as MerLion Pharma and S*Bio roll their antibiotics and cancer treatments into clinical trials.
Both are gunning for IPOs in the next year or two.
'Five years ago we had zero companies, and now there are 30-40 companies doing research and development here,' Ms Chu said.
Now, Bio*One wants to invest in companies that are already much closer to the market: firms that deal in medical devices or in biologics -- a new class of drugs developed through the use of biological processes like cell cultures.
Biologics, in contrast to drugs that are chemically synthesised, are derived from living sources (humans, animals and micro-organisms) and often manufactured using biotechnology, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
'Now, we are investing in companies such as Codexis, Artisan and Lonza. We want to move a little more downstream,' Ms Chu said. 'We want to adopt a more balanced portfolio.
'In 2005, 28 new drugs were approved by the FDA, and 35 per cent of those approved were biologics. Singapore has to be involved in this biologics play.'
Ms Chu said about half of Bio*One's investments have been made in the United States, with most of the rest in Singapore, Europe and Japan. She would not be drawn on investment levels so far this year, though the company last year spent S$192 million (US$124.4 million) on 15 new and existing projects.
She said Bio*One is keen to back smaller medical device firms that want to tap Singapore's expertise in manufacturing and product development. She said she is also eyeing new opportunities in Japan, Australia and India. -- REUTERS
SINGAPORE - Swiss specialty chemicals firm Lonza and Singapore's Bio*One Capital announced plans on Tuesday to invest up to $350 million in a second plant in Singapore, the biggest investment in the country's biomedical sector this year.
Lonza, which produces ingredients for drug companies such as Genentech and Bristol Myers-Squibb under contract, said it may invest in a third biopharmaceutical production plant in the city-state if it continues to see strong demand for its antibodies and proteins.
'We have enough land and reserves to build up to three plants on each of the two pieces of land we have,' Stefan Borgas, chief executive officer for Lonza, told Reuters while on a visit to Singapore. 'We might very well build a third plant.'
Bio*One Capital, the government's venture capital arm, told Reuters last week that it plans to invest an additional US$300 million in the next two years on biologics and medical device companies.
Borgas said planned production from its second Singapore plant -- which should be operational by 2011 -- has already been more than fully placed out under letters of intent to customers in the United States, Europe and Japan.
'Basic biopharmaceutical demand is growing at 20 percent per year. We want to build up a very strong global pipeline for this,' Borgas said.
Both Lonza and Bio*One declined to reveal the size of their individual investment in the new plant.
Biologics, in contrast to drugs that are chemically synthesised, are derived from living sources such as humans, animals and micro-organisms and are often manufactured using biotechnology. Lonza earlier this year announced plans with Bio One to build an 80,000l capacity plant in Singapore, its first in Singapore and its second large-scale manufacturing plant after the United States.
That plant, which will produce cancer drugs such as Avastin, is expected to be licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2010.
Already, Genentech, which is majority-owned by Swiss drug maker Roche Holding AG, has an exclusive option to buy that planned Singapore plant from Lonza between 2007 and 2012 for US$290 million, plus a further US$70 million on the achievement of certain milestones. -- REUTERS
