Biologics – A New Trend in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
A key component of Singapore’s manufacturing sector is Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, as many pharmaceutical companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Pfizer and Schering-Plough set-up facilities here. These are the rewards of the Singapore government’s 17 years of hard work to attract such big names to Singapore.
In recent years, the manufacturing of drugs has shifted from using the traditional way of using synthesized drugs to drugs made from biological component. This has given rise to whole new industry, known as the biopharmaceutical industry. Biopharmaceutical is a pharmaceutical, which is inherently biological in nature and manufactured using biotechnology. This industry is said to be the next big wave in drug manufacturing, and is expected to grow by about 15% per year. Here is Singapore, 5 plants worth US $1.5b are setting up operations here. Biopharmaceuticals has the power to accelerate the profits of drug companies as they exhaust their supplies of new chemically synthesized drugs. It generally involves the use of genetic engineering through recombinant DNA technology to produce therapeutic products. Two prominent examples of therapeutic proteins are the manufacture insulin and human factor IX for haemophilia treatment.
Biologics poses several advantages over traditional drug making, as the use of living organisms allows for more control over the product and more complicated drug molecules to target various difficult diseases. These products are also more compatible with the human body resulting in fewer side-effects. Due to the recent success in therapeutic drugs and the slow setup of manufacturing facilities, it is estimated that there will be a global shortage of biologics manufacturing capacity.
Organizations such as Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI) and A-Bio Pharma Pte Ltd (A-Bio) have been key pillars of scientific research and commercial production of biologics. As the growth of this industry accelerates, it will be important for Singapore to continue to stay relevant by continuing its cutting-edge research and providing good infrastructure as well as a talented pool of skilled workforce that can interest big drug companies here.
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Citation: The Straits Times, Saturday. 10th January 2009
Despite the many advantages that biologics apparently has over the traditional method, i believe that most manufacturing companies are still holding on to the traditional way. Why is this so? Are there any reasons why some of these new innovations may not be applicable across the industry?
It is true many of the manufacturing companies are still holding on to their traditional way. But they can only continue to do so until they have new drugs in their pipelines and their patents on their current drugs don’t expire. But in the long-term, they may have to move towards biologics to remain competitive. Biologics is still a relatively new industry and i believe it will take a few more years for its impact to be seen.
It is true many of the manufacturing companies are still holding on to their traditional way. But they can only continue to do so until they have new drugs in their pipelines and their patents on their current drugs don’t expire. But in the long-term, they may have to move towards biologics to remain competitive. Biologics is still a relatively new industry and i believe it will take a few more years for its impact to be seen.