City state business climate passes test for BioNTech hub

German drug maker BioNTech, whose coronavirus vaccine with Pfizer was the first to be approved for use in the United States and Europe last year, has announced a new manufacturing facility in Singapore that would produce “several hundreds of millions” of vaccine doses a year.

The move will boost BioNTech’s production capacities for vaccines and therapeutics for infectious diseases and cancer, and ensure it has rapid-response capability for potential pandemic threats in Southeast Asia.

Yesterday’s announcement comes amid efforts by Singapore to build its biomedical and pharmaceutical sectors.

The US-listed firm is supplying its two-shot Covid-19 vaccine to more than 90 locations, including Singapore and Hong Kong. The one in Singapore is developed with Pfizer while Hong Kong’s is distributed by China’s Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical.

BioNTech said it would set up its Singapore office and start construction of its manufacturing facility this year. The facility could be operational as early as 2023 and would create up to 80 jobs. According to its website, this will be its first manufacturing facility outside Germany and its first office outside Europe and America.

Ryan Richardson, BioNTech’s chief strategy officer, said they picked Singapore because the city state was a global innovation hub, and also because it had the “talents we want to work with”.

Singapore had the “perfect business climate” for BioNTech to establish its headquarters for the Asia-Pacific region, he said.

Chief executive Ugur Sahin said the value of the investment in Singapore was “in the range of hundreds of millions of US dollars”, local media reported.

“We’re looking at this as a long-term investment in biotech in Singapore … It extends beyond Covid-19,” he said.

Having such a plant in Singapore would mean that a “certain percentage” of vaccines produced would go to Singapore, he was quoted as saying.

BioNTech and Pfizer have established licensing and manufacturing partnerships with other firms to boost vaccine production capabilities and ensure a wider supply of jabs. This includes America’s Merck, Novartis from Switzerland and Sanofi in France.

The firm on Sunday also announced that it would form a US$200 million joint venture with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical to build a plant to supply up to 1 billion doses a year.

We’re looking at this as a longterm investment in biotech in Singapore

BIONTECH CHIEF EXECUTIVE UGUR SAHIN