Pfizer Asia Pacific, Glaxo Wellcome Manufacturing and Siemens have signed on as founding members of a new A*STAR R&D Consortium Programm - Innovative Processing of Specialties and Pharmaceuticals (iPSP). Launched by A*STAR's Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (ICES), the consortium offers a platform for pharmaceutical and specialty chemicals industry players to address various challenges such as costs, regulatory compliance and responsiveness in production and processes to bring drugs from trials to markets.

The consortium program brings together industry leaders to address an increasingly urgent need to access emerging "next generation manufacturing" technologies that provide quantum change improvements in cost, quality, environmental impact and process robustness in pharmaceutical manufacturing processes. The advancement in technologies and adoption of best practices in processing technologies will help companies drive up productivity and maximize manpower development to maintain their competitive edge.

The program also offers a unique platform for members to interact, develop and grow the industry processing technology knowledge base by facilitating the technology transfer and manpower development in advanced chemical processing technologies. The program draws on established resources and capabilities at ICES. These include the Kilo Scale Laboratory, pilot scale multipurpose continuous plant, a fully equipped development laboratory and staff experienced in process development and operation. The Institute's core skill areas including chemistry, chemical engineering, analytics, control, formulation science and catalysis form a strong basis for the development of innovative manufacturing approaches. The program will see research activities undertaken in industrially relevant areas like process analytics (PAT), Quality by Design (Qbd) as well as continuous manufacturing systems.

In Singapore, the chemicals and energy industries accounted for around $100 billion or 34% of the total manufacturing output in 2012. The chemicals and energy sectors are key pillars in Singapore's manufacturing output. This consortium presents tremendous opportunities for companies to extend their presence in Singapore and leverage on its position as a gateway to Asia. It also allows them to respond with agility to the emerging needs of Asian customers and end-consumers, through innovation or customization of new applications.

"ICES has built strong and deep capabilities in the understanding of process science and technologies and the time is ripe for such depth and breadth of knowledge to be applied to the chemicals and pharmaceutical industries. By identifying common research focus, companies can mutually benefit from joint research. This will enable companies to address industry-wide challenges and further reinforce the competitiveness of Singapore's chemicals industry," said Dr. Keith Carpenter, Executive Director, ICES.

Bringing impact to Singapore's pharmaceutical and specialty sectors

As a leading research institute in process innovations, ICES provides easy access to research and development resources, making a difference to corporate organisations looking for an edge in the global marketplace and tapping into our exciting technologies and solutions to expand beyond their home markets.

"For Singapore manufacturing business to sustain global competitiveness, employing technological advancements in the areas of energy management and manufacturing operations is essential. The iPSP program provides a great platform to move ideas in technology to real world solutions," said George Routhier, Managing Director, Pfizer Asia Pacific.

"At a time when companies in the pharmaceutical industry are challenged on speed in new product development, manufacturing process innovation, consistency in product quality, regulatory conformance and environmental sustainability, an integrative approach to the application of cutting edge technologies will be crucial to future success. The launch of iPSP is very timely," said Lim Hock Heng, Managing Director of Glaxosmithkline's Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Sites Singapore.

"The cooperation with ICES in research for innovation in process manufacturing is a great step towards creating advanced knowledge for Singapore. To be selected as the technology partner for ICES is a great honour for Siemens in Singapore. With our comprehensive knowledge and technology, we are sure that we can add great value to the projects," said Mr. Matthias Gronstedt, Vice President Sales, Industry Automation & Drive Technologies Division, Siemens Singapore.