Speech by Minister Gan Kim Yong at the Launch of Labcorp's Bioanalytical Facility and Expansion of its Central Laboratory

Dr Paul Kirchgraber,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. Good morning to all of you. It is my great pleasure to join you today in celebrating the launch of Labcorp’s new bioanalytical laboratory facility and the expansion of its central laboratory.

A long-standing partner in our healthcare ecosystem

2. Labcorp first established its regional headquarters (RHQ) here in Singapore back in 1996. Today, Singapore serves as its full-fledged APAC hub, managing key functions, including project management, talent and capability development, and data analytics. Labcorp also actively co-innovates with our public research institutions, and recently inked research collaborations with A*STAR’s Singapore Immunology Network and the Diagnostics Development Hub.

3. Today’s launch takes Labcorp’s commitment to Singapore further. This latest investment by Labcorp will add around 90 additional research and engineering jobs, building on their 350-strong team here in Singapore. These positions will offer exciting job opportunities in the healthcare sector, including nursing coordinators to facilitate decentralised clinical trials, as well as data engineers to develop artificial intelligence technologies to assist in diagnosing diseases.

Expanding the capabilities of Singapore’s biomedical ecosystem

4. Labcorp’s state-of-the-art Bioanalytical Lab facility and expansion of its Central Laboratory Services (CLS) will add cutting-edge capabilities to our thriving biomedical ecosystem. The combined facility is the first-of-its-kind in Southeast Asia. In particular, Labcorp’s new Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and Good Clinical Practice (GCP)-compliant bioanalysis and immunochemistry platforms will provide bioanalytical testing services that are critical to early-stage development of biologics and vaccines in Singapore. Labcorp’s CLS expansion will also provide companion diagnostics laboratory testing support, as well as Cell & Gene therapy testing capabilities, that align with our focus areas for the sector. With these capabilities, companies in Singapore will be able to tap on Labcorp’s services to speed up the design, development and commercialisation of healthcare technologies. They will also make us an even more compelling regional biomedical hub, and help us attract more leading-edge investments in the sector.

A proven growth engine with a promising future

5. The biomedical sector has been and will continue to be a key growth driver for our economy. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the sector recorded very strong growth, expanding by 24% last year compared to 2019. We will add wind to its sail, by providing tailored support for companies to create new capabilities, innovate, forge new partnerships and break into new markets.

6. Singapore has been able to continually attract and retain leading-edge investments in the biomedical sector. Besides Labcorp, over the past two years, major players such as Thermo Fisher, BioNTech, Sanofi and GSK, among others, have announced plans to either set-up or expand their manufacturing footprint in Singapore. Specific to the contract research organisation (CRO) segment which Labcorp is part of, 7 of the top 10 CROs globally have expanded their presence here over the past decade.

7. We often hear from these firms that they are attracted by Singapore’s deep talent pool, supportive infrastructure, rule of law, strong IP protection, and innovative ecosystem. The presence of these firms here in turn strengthens our ecosystem and makes it even more vibrant, creating a self-reinforcing effect to turbocharge the overall growth of our biomedical sector. We will continue to push towards our Manufacturing 2030 vision to be a global business, innovation, and talent hub for Advanced Manufacturing.

Conclusion

8. To conclude, let me thank Labcorp for their trust in Singapore and I look forward to our continued partnership. The outlook for the biomedical sector in Singapore is promising and I eagerly await the new technologies that this latest investment by Labcorp will help bring to us.

9. Thank you.