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Eight of the world's top ten pharmaceutical companies settled in Singapore

2020-12-22T00:16:44.006Z


With the global pandemic of new coronary pneumonia, vaccines have become the last hope for all localities to fight the epidemic. One of the vaccines purchased by the Hong Kong government is a vaccine from the Mainland, causing social controversy. The new coronary pneumonia vaccine developed by the University of Hong Kong has entered the final clinical trial in November


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Written by: McCain

2020-12-22 08:05

Last update date: 2020-12-22 08:05

With the global pandemic of new coronary pneumonia, vaccines have become the last hope for all localities to fight the epidemic.

One of the vaccines purchased by the Hong Kong government was a vaccine from the Mainland, which caused social controversy. The new coronary pneumonia vaccine developed by the University of Hong Kong entered the final clinical test in November.

However, He Yiwu, the Chief Innovation Officer of the University of Hong Kong and senior adviser to the principal, disclosed to Hong Kong 01 earlier that he proactively negotiated cooperation with the government but did not receive a positive response, criticizing the government for not taking the first step.

On the other hand, neighboring Singapore has developed biomedicine since 2000. Eight of the world's top ten pharmaceutical factories have established drug and vaccine production lines in the local area. It is the only country in the southeast that exports drugs with more value than imports.

At the same time, the local government invested in drugs for the new crown pneumonia to reduce external demand.

"Hong Kong 01" compares the policies and supporting facilities of the two governments. Both the start-up, capital and talent supporting facilities are obviously lagging behind Singapore. Not only is it not providing tax concessions, but also whether the medical industry is an industry has yet to be determined.

A team led by an expert from the University of Hong Kong, Yuan Guoyong, developed a nasal spray new coronary pneumonia vaccine in September.

(Information Picture / Photo by Zhang Haowei)

Sin Chew directly participates in pharmaceutical manufacturers' research and development of vaccines, the Hong Kong government has not responded for half a year

New crown pneumonia is pandemic in the world, and countries are competing for vaccines and drugs.

Singapore biotechnology company Tychan began human testing of SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibody (mAb) drugs in June. It plans to develop with the support of the local Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Health and Economic Development Committee.

Due to its advantages in pharmaceutical companies, the Singapore government has long expected that it will benefit from a large number of new drug listing business opportunities under the epidemic. It will directly participate in the pharmaceutical companies’ plans to develop vaccines and sign pre-purchase agreements with Pfizer, Moderna, and others. Provide local clinical trials for different pharmaceutical companies.

On the contrary, the new crown pneumonia nasal spray vaccine developed by the University of Hong Kong in September received US$620,000 in seed funding from the International Organization for Epidemic Prevention and Innovation (CEPI). However, it was coldly treated when proactively approaching the Hong Kong government and did not receive a reply for half a year. The production of vaccines is far away.

Related news: Hong Kong University receives a private investment of 1 billion yuan to set up the first local vaccine factory Kong Fanyi expects to be put into operation in several years

He Yiwu, Chief Innovation Officer and Senior Advisor to the President of the University of Hong Kong, took the initiative to approach the government to discuss the construction of a vaccine factory in April and May this year.

(Profile picture)

Sin Chew's tax-free, housing and admission allowance attract talents

In fact, the Singapore government listed biomedicine as one of the country’s four major economic industries as early as 2000. Not only will it provide biotech companies with direct tax relief, the corporate tax is as low as 15%. In the same year, it established a "Life Science Manpower Development Program". And import biotechnology personnel, provide housing subsidies, children's school allowances, etc. to talents.

In June 2000, the local area established the "Biomedical Science Group" and "Bio Investment Co., Ltd." under the Economic Development Board (EDB), which allocated at least 1.5 billion Singapore dollars (about 8.7 billion Hong Kong dollars) each year. There are as many as 24,000 people.

Former Chief Executive Donald Tsang advocated listing medical innovation as the "six major industries", but the next Chief Executive Liang Zhenying believes that healthcare is not an industry.

(Photo by Luo Junhao)

Tsang Yam-quan mentions medical innovation and technology as the "six major industries"

Hong Kong also started to propose biomedicine in 2000. Nine years later, then Chief Executive Donald Tsang listed medical and innovation as the "six major industries", but the next Chief Executive, Leung Chun-ying, abolished the decision of medical as an industry in the first Policy Address. , Believes that we must tackle the problem of insufficient medical staff.

Under unstable policies, Chief Executive Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was only determined to develop biomedicine in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The government postponed the launch of the "Science and Technology Talent Admission Program" in 2018, but the plan did not provide any actual economic or tax concessions to applicants. The Innovation and Technology Bureau only claims that the plan is used to quickly process arrangements.

Hong Kong’s biomedical affairs are handled by the Innovation and Technology Bureau, but there is no dedicated team for biomedical doctors. It only provides up to 4 million yuan in funding for biomedical incubation companies through the "Biomedical Technology Cultivation Program" of the Science Park. And talents are extremely attractive.

The "Biomedical Technology Cultivation Program" of the Science Park provides up to 4 million yuan in funding for biomedical incubation companies.

(Photo/Photo by Wu Zhongkun)

Pfizer settled in Singapore for 18 years, Hong Kong still looks forward to buying medicines

In order to attract pharmaceutical companies, the Singaporean government has spared no effort to rebuild the entire Tuas district into a pharmaceutical park.

Pfizer, which develops the new crown pneumonia vaccine, is the first pharmaceutical factory to settle in Singapore. The pharmaceutical factory invested US$3.4 billion in 2000 to set up a factory there, and then expanded the factory in 2010. The current factory has 91,963 square meters (equivalent to 17 Football field), drug supply can be exported to Taiwan, Hong Kong and other places.

According to data from Singapore’s Economic Development Board, in addition to Pfizer, seven of the world’s top ten pharmaceutical companies, including Roche and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which are developing oral antiviral drugs for COVID-19, have opened locally Vaccine factories and pharmaceutical factories.

In addition, 50 pharmaceutical manufacturing plants, 50 biotechnology companies have established biomedical R&D centers in the local area, and more than 30 pharmaceutical companies have regional headquarters.

Eight of the world’s top ten pharmaceutical companies have established factories in Singapore. Last year, the total value of local drug exports was US$8.1 billion.

(Online picture)

Xingzhou's own supply chain is not afraid of foreign competition

Under the epidemic, Singapore's pharmaceutical production increased by 86% in April this year. Among them, the export of active pharmaceutical ingredients, as well as antibiotics and anesthetics, went to the United States, Europe and Japan the most.

Last year, the total value of local drugs exported was 8.1 billion U.S. dollars, and imports were only 3.1 billion U.S. dollars. It is the only country in Southeast Asia that exports drugs with more value than imports.

The Singapore Pharmaceutical Industry Association earlier gave the public a lot of reassurance, saying that even if drugs continue to be exported, there will still be a stable stock in the country.

The Singapore government has a positive attitude, while the Hong Kong government has a very conservative attitude.

In an earlier interview with "Hong Kong 01", He Yiwu revealed that when he represented the Hong Kong University team and the government to discuss the establishment of a vaccine factory, the government still expected to purchase externally. He was disappointed and criticized "If you don't start, you will never start." Moreover, the vaccine factory only occupies less than one-tenth of the land of the Science Park, that is, about 1.6 hectares, so whether it is built or not has nothing to do with the land issue.

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Only one pharmaceutical factory in the Science Park changed to face masks during the epidemic

In the past 20 years, how many biomedical companies are there in Hong Kong?

The Department of Health stated in the Legislative Council in December that it did not keep the number of Hong Kong companies involved in biomedicine. The Innovation and Technology Board stated that there were 161 biomedical companies in the Science Park and Industrial Estate last year, of which 57 were engaged in medical equipment or in vitro diagnostics. .

Looking through the list of pharmaceutical manufacturers of the Department of Health, there is only one named Kunpule Pharmaceutical from Shenzhen located in the Science Park. However, in response to the new crown epidemic, the pharmaceutical factory has not developed new drugs, but instead used dust-free workshops to produce masks.

After 20 years of development, Hong Kong people only have masks made in Hong Kong. The government's response to the epidemic has been ridiculous.

▼Hong Kong government announces tightening of epidemic prevention measures (announced on December 8)▼

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01News

New Coronary Pneumonia New Coronary Vaccine Yuan Guoyong, School of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Singapore

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2020-12-22

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