In 2009, we will see the opening of Schering-Plough Translational Medicine Research Centre (TMRC) in Singapore. The TMRC is a branch of the Schering-Plough Research Institute (SPRI) and it will consist of 2 planned components:

• Translational Research Lab (TRL) – scheduled to open in February, 2009

• Translational Medicine Unit (TMU) – will run about 20-30 clinical trials a year and is scheduled to open later in 2009

Hired 20 in 2008, it is anticipated that 50 more employees will be recruited over the next few years (this is good news!).

The planned TMRC will focus on biomarker discovery and on the development of Schering-Plough active areas such as cardiovascular, central nervous system, immunology and infectious diseases, oncology, respiratory and women’s health. The TRL will also do work in non-invasive imaging development. Not to bore you with lengthy definitions of Biomarkers and their uses, click here if you wish to find out more.

Applying biomarkers early in the discovery process can help to identify and progress winning therapies fast and stop unsuccessful approaches early.

Biomarkers can be used as early indicators of therapeutic activity of experimental therapies or can be used to determine which patients could benefit more from a given therapy. In the TRL, biomarker discovery will be focused on developing suitable fit-for-purpose tests that will provide results for decision-making purposes ( for example to accelerate a drug discovery project if initial results are promising or to halt a project should the results be otherwise).

For those interested Biomarker discovery and development, the sprouting of these new labs in Singapore is good news for you. Do check out Schering Plough booth in BioBiz 2009.

*Disclaimer: Schering-Plough is a sponsor of BioBiz 2009.

Image: Flickr/Synthetic Biology Research at NASA Ames