Singapore benefits from rising global drug demand

Singapore's pharmaceutical industry is benefiting from the skyrocketing demand for pharmaceuticals in the world market.

The Singapore economy is heading to the worst recession in history this year but the operation of pharmaceutical factories has held up, thanks partly to countries rushing to stockpile medicines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The country has become a centre for drug makers and is home to more than 50 factories, owned by big players including Pfizer, Roche, GlaxoSmithKline and Takeda.

Singapore's drug sector plays an important role in the global pharmaceutical industry supply chain.

In 2020, governments and private-sector firms have been increasing inventories of critical drugs as a result of the severe supply chain disruptions in many countries during the pandemic.

The biomedical manufacturing industry, including pharmaceuticals, has grown strongly, with production in September 2020 increasing by 90 percent over the same period last year.

The country’s exports also posted stable growth most of the year, helped by drug shipments.

Singapore, with a population of 5.7 million, is one of the few countries that exports more pharmaceuticals than it imports. In 2019 it shipped pharma products worth 8.1 billion USD while spending only 3.1 billion USD on imports./. 

VNA