 Print Article
|
The plant will be able to produce biologic drugs, which use natural products like blood or bacteria, and Singapore is one of the few countries in the world which has this capability.
The new plant - GSK chief executive officer Andrew Witty calls it 'possibly the best vaccine facility anywhere in the world' - will manufacture a new drug that has shown promise in preventing some of the most common lethal diseases around the globe such as meningitis, pneumonia and blood poisoning, which kill about one million toddlers each year.
Though it opened on Tuesday, production at the Tuas plant will begin only in 2011.
This is because of strict quality control standards for biologics plants: It will take about two years for teams of auditors from the health authorities around the world, including the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the World Health Organisation, to satisfy themselves that standards at Tuas are up to scratch.
Standards are so exacting, said the plant's site director, Mr Vincent Hingot, that it takes three weeks just to get a freezer approved.
Indeed, biologic drugs are so difficult and complex to produce that pharmaceutical companies needed some convincing that Singapore has what it takes to do so.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the plant on Tuesday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said it marked a significant victory for the Republic.
Though drugs companies initially questioned whether Singapore could make the transformation from producing run-of-the-mill drugs to making biologic vaccines, the country met the challenge through training and other measures, he said.
In fact, he added, four other companies have followed GSK's lead, and will build similar plants here.
Read the full report in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.
