Singapore

Among biopharma giants that have expanded in Singapore recently is Merck KGaA, which last month opened a S$20 million (about $14.6 million), 3800-square-meter (40,903-square-foot) BioReliance laboratory that is the company’s first in the region. And in May, Amgen opened a 7500-square-meter (80,729-square-foot) manufacturing support office at Tuas Biomedical Hub. The “NextGen Workplace” is designed to foster innovation and collaboration, and has raised Amgen’s investment in Singapore to S$400 million ($291 million).

Another encouraging sign: According to the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), the number of local drug development biotech startups more than doubled in six years to about 50 as of October 2017, from less than half that in the preceding decade.

Singapore rose to fifth in IPOs, as Hyphens Pharma International and Aslan Pharmaceuticals raised a combined $51.8 million (most of that being Aslan’s $42 million in American Depositary Shares)—though speculation had the healthcare arm of Luye Life Sciences Group pursuing a S$500 million ($362.9 million) offering. Singapore was also sixth in patents (2032 listing at least one Singaporean inventor, according to WIPO) and seventh in R&D ($10.104 billion, according to UNESCO). The nation ranked eighth in jobs (“around 6900,” according to the Singapore Economic Development Board) and tenth in companies with 100, including some 30 biopharma giants.