Stratified medicine programme: deliver the right therapy to the right
patient at the right time
- Eye research: new clinical therapies to cure major eye diseases like
glaucoma, corneal disease.
Singapore announces 8 biomedical
sciences research programmes to advance understanding and treatment of diseases
especially prevalent amongst the Asian population. These programmes will see
biomedical scientists and clinicians working collaboratively to bring about
greater healthcare benefits to society and create economic growth for
Singapore. These programmes were endorsed by the Biomedical Sciences
International Advisory Council chaired by Sir Richard Sykes.
Said Mr Lim Chuan Poh, Co-Chair
of the Biomedical Sciences Executive Committee (BMS EXCO) and Chairman of
A*STAR, "The collaborations will see a convergence of talent, capabilities
and resources of the basic science and clinical communities. This augurs well
for Singapore as a research hub, as our distinctive value proposition depends
on our ability to coordinate and integrate our research efforts along the
innovation value chain, as well as across multiple research
organizations."
Some Research Programs
- Polaris
Four programmes supported under
the A*STAR Biomedical Research Council's Strategic Positioning Fund, totalling
about $58 million over 3 years, were endorsed by the BMS IAC. One of the
programmes is POLARIS, which represents a concerted effort by Singapore to
venture into stratified medicine. POLARIS aims to administer the right
therapies to the right patient at the right time. Led by Professor Patrick Tan
from the Genome Institute of Singapore, the programme will leverage on A*STAR's
scientific capabilities to identify new biomarkers and technologies that can
predict how well patients will respond to medical treatment, as well as how
their disease will progress.
POLARIS will substantially reduce
the cost of healthcare for patients for whom certain types of medication and
treatments are not appropriate, and also reduce the danger of toxicity arising
from consuming medicine that is unsuitable for them. POLARIS will also work
with leading clinicians in the public healthcare institutes to modify existing
clinical care methods and refine stratified healthcare delivery approaches for
oncology, eye disease and other chronic diseases prevalent in Singapore.
The programme can help to enhance
Singapore's attractiveness to companies seeking to develop medical products for
the Asian market as they could potentially in-license promising biomarkers at a
more mature stage of clinical validation for product development and marketing.
Said Professor Soo Khee Chee,
Deputy Group CEO (Education & Research), SingHealth, and Director, National
Cancer Centre Singapore: "The POLARIS initiative will help clinicians
determine the right diagnosis and treatment for the right patient. One of the
projects we're embarking on with POLARIS is to identify new biomarkers for lung
cancer that are specific to our Asian population. Lung cancer is among the top
three cancers here and is often difficult to treat. These biomarkers will
enable clinicians to better understand patients' disease and tailor an
individual treatment strategy. In addition, with this new knowledge, we can
drive the development of drugs that have greater benefits for our
patients."
Prof Ng Huck Hui, Executive
Director of the Genome Institute of Singapore, A*STAR, said, "POLARIS is
about patient-driven research that will have direct and immediate impact on
patient treatments as well as future impact on the identification of new
biomarkers. Such collaborations with the clinical community allow us to bring
our research expertise and capabilities from the laboratories right into the
heart of healthcare for the benefit of patients and society."
- Genetic Orphan Diseases
Another programme, Genetic Orphan
Diseases led by Dr Bruno Reversade from Institute of Medical Biology, aims to
study rare genetic diseases in order to better understand common disease
targets and complex disease processes. By identifying mutations in genes
responsible for rare diseases, the researchers will be able to discover key
biological processes which contribute to more common diseases.
The Genetic Orphan Diseases
programme presents a different and exciting approach to discovering new cures
for common diseases. The three main areas of focus are skin, cardiovascular,
and neurological and cognitive disorders. It has already received strong
interest from scientists, clinicians and drug companies.
- Translational and Clinical
Research (TCR) Flagship Programme
Four TCR Flagship grants
administered by the National Medical Research Council (NMRC) under the Ministry
of Health (MOH), amounting to a total of $68 million, were announced at this
year's BMS IAC. This includes two of the existing Flagship programmes, in eye
diseases and gastric cancer, which received renewed funding of $25 million for
a period of five years each.
The four TCR Flagship programmes
are large-scale "all the way" thematic programmes spanning basic,
translational and clinical research which seek to translate laboratory
discoveries into meaningful applications for patients. Each programme brings
together complementary strengths from across the biomedical research community,
to undertake cutting edge research in diseases of strategic importance to
Singapore.
Mrs Tan Ching Yee, Co-Chair of
the BMS EXCO and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health said, "MOH
recognises the value that research can bring to addressing Singapore's
healthcare challenges. These stem from our rapidly ageing population and
changing lifestyles that will see a rise in chronic diseases. I am pleased to
note that the TCR Flagship grants will go a long way to support the good work
of our clinician scientists and I look forward to greater synergy and dynamic
and meaningful collaborations among our healthcare institutions, industry and
our partners such as A*STAR."
- $25 million TCR Flagship
Programmes
The Eye Surgery and Innovative
Technologies (EyeSITe) programme is led by Principal Investigator Professor
Donald Tan Tiang Hwee, Medical Director of the Singapore National Eye Centre
and the Singapore Eye Bank, and Professor of Ophthalmology, NUS. He is also the
Chairman of the Singapore Eye Research Institute where the programme is hosted.
EyeSITe aims to provide new clinical therapies to aid in alleviating ocular
morbidity from major eye diseases, including corneal disease, infection,
glaucoma, refractive errors and retinal disorders. Corneal diseases and
glaucoma are two of the major causes of blindness worldwide.
This programme builds on the
successes of the TRIOS Programme (Translational Research Innovations in Ocular
Surgery) which was awarded a TCR Flagship grant in 2008. In the course of four
years, the team has established five sub-programmes that have shown promising
scientific results, clinical outcomes and commercial potential which the new
programme will be leveraging on.
Another programme that received
the $25 million TCR Flagship grant is the Singapore Gastric Cancer Consortium
(SGCC) - Redefining the Management of Gastric Cancer, led by Principal
Investigator Associate Professor Yeoh Khay Guan, Dean of the Yong Loo Lin
School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. Gastric (or stomach)
cancer is a leading cause of global cancer mortality, accounting for about
700,000 deaths worldwide and is particularly prevalent in East Asia and
Singapore.
Over the past five years, the
team has excelled in translating basic science to clinical research and vice
versa. The current award will allow SGCC to transition from a programme of
"Improving Outcomes for Our Patients" to one of "Re-defining the
Management of Gastric Cancer".
- $9 million TCR Flagship
Programmes
In addition to the $25 million
programmes, for the first time, NMRC launched another tier of TCR Flagship
grants where two programmes each received $9 million of funding for a period of
five years. The grant recipients are: Genetic Predilection, Epigenetic Change,
MicroRNA Profiling and Experimental Therapies in Heart Failure (Lead Principal
Investigator: Professor Arthur Mark Richards, Director of the Cardiovascular
Research Institute, National University Heart Centre), and Non-Small Cell Lung
Cancer: Targeting Cancer Stem Cell and Drug Resistance (Lead Principal
Investigator: Associate Professor Tan Eng Huat, Senior Consultant, Department
of Medical Oncology, and Head, Division of Clinical Trials and Epidemiological
Sciences, National Cancer Centre Singapore).
Progress of BMS Efforts
The BMS IAC commended Singapore
for its BMS efforts in basic research and TCR in the past 12 years, and lauded
Singapore for its efforts on converging its talent, R&D capabilities and
resources for impact.
Over the past five years, MOH's
investment in TCR has generated promising results which have made a positive
impact on healthcare. Among these are the development of innovative treatments
and devices such as the world's first robotic flexible endoscopy system
featuring a pair of robotic arms for surgeons to cut away tumours in the
digestive tract by passing them through natural openings such as the mouth.
Using this system allows for surgery which leaves no scars, inflicts lesser
pain and facilitates faster recovery.
Another example is the
development of better ways to stratify dengue patients by their disease severity,
allowing for treatment to be more focused and cost effective, thus resulting in
significant healthcare cost savings. Other studies which have the potential to
significantly improve our understanding of public health have also been
launched. These include a large study investigating how mothers' diet and
lifestyle during pregnancy influence child development, and following on the
children's progress as they grow older. It is one of the most comprehensive
studies of its kind ever done in the world.
Sir Richard Sykes said, "I
have been impressed by how far Singapore has come in its biomedical sciences
journey in all of 12 years. Now that Singapore is in the third phase of its BMS
Initiative with the greater emphasis on convergence for economic and health outcomes,
I believe we can expect to see Singapore attracting more pharma, biologics,
medtech, personal care and nutrition companies here. The attendant social
benefits will come from having early access to cost-effective and novel health
solutions."
On a macro level, the BMS
Initiative has made significant impact and contributed much to the economy. The
BMS manufacturing output for 2011 was $27 billion. This was more than four
times the output of $6.3 billion when we started in 2000. In terms of BMS's share
of Singapore's total manufacturing output, it was nearly 10% in 2011 - an
increase from 4% in 2000. The Compound Annual Growth Rate or CAGR of the BMS
output from 2000 to 2011 was 14%. This reflects the strong and steady growth in
this sector. In 2011, BMS also accounts for about 22.4% of the total
manufacturing value-added in Singapore or $12.9 billion in value-added. This
was a significant increase from the value added of $3.8 billion in 2000.
Business expenditure on BMS R&D grew to $574m in 2011, from $47m in 2000.
In terms of employment, in 2011,
there were over 15,000 people employed in manufacturing in the BMS sector -
more than 2.5 times the number of 6000 employed in 2000. In addition, there
were over 5,500 people employed in R&D jobs in the fields of biomedical and
related sciences. Of that number, more than 45% or 2,500 of them had PhDs,
suggesting high value-added jobs were created in this sector.
Today, over 100 global biomedical
sciences companies, including pharmbio and non-pharmbio companies, have
leveraged Singapore's world-class manufacturing capabilities, excellent
clinical and scientific infrastructure, connectivity to Asian markets and
pro-business environment to carry out strategic business operations,
cutting-edge research and manufacturing in Singapore. Some of these companies
are: Abbott Laboratories, Chugai, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson,
L'Oreal, Novartis, Procter & Gamble and Roche. The presence of MNCs and
their significant investments in R&D are a testimony of the excellent
progress made by Singapore in its BMS thrust.
Please see the press release,
including information on the POLARIS Initiative, the Genetic Orphan Diseases
Programme and other programmes awarded grants under the Strategic Positioning
Fund, at www.a-star.edu.sg/?TabId=828&articleType=ArticleView&articleId=1737.
About A*STAR
The Agency for Science,
Technology and Research (A*STAR) is Singapore's lead public sector agency that
fosters world-class scientific research and talent to drive economic growth and
transform Singapore into a vibrant knowledge-based and innovation driven economy.
In line with its mission-oriented mandate, A*STAR spearheads research and
development in fields that are essential to growing Singapore's manufacturing
sector and catalysing new growth industries. A*STAR supports these economic
clusters by providing intellectual, human and industrial capital to its
partners in industry. A*STAR oversees 20 biomedical sciences and physical
sciences and engineering research entities, located in Biopolis and
Fusionopolis as well as their vicinity. These two R&D hubs house a bustling
and diverse community of local and international research scientists and
engineers from A*STAR's research entities as well as a growing number of
corporate laboratories. For more information about A*STAR, please visit www.a-star.edu.sg.
Source: A*STAR
Contact: A*STAR
- Evelyn
Ho (Ms) Deputy Director, Corporate Communications Agency for Science,
Technology and Research Tel: +65 6826 6103, 9682 6922 Email: evelyn_ho@a-star.edu.sg
- Ong
Siok Ming (Ms) Senior Officer, Corporate Communications Agency for Science,
Technology and Research Tel: +65 6826 6254, 9733 7434 Email: ong_siok_ming@a-star.edu.sg
- Vithya
Selvam (Ms) Senior Officer, Corporate Communications Agency for Science,
Technology and Research Tel: +65 6826 6291, 9451 8941 Email: vithya_selvam@a-star.edu.sg
- MOH
Shireen Yeo (Ms) Assistant Manager, Corporate Communications Ministry of Health
Tel: +65 6325 1220 Email: Shireen_Yeo@moh.gov.sg
-
Poon Jing Ting (Ms)
Assistant Manager, Corporate Communications Ministry of Health Tel: +65 6325
1346 Email: poon_jing_ting@moh.gov.sg
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