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New S$60 million hub to boost biomedical research sector

SINGAPORE – The Republic’s biomedical research sector received a boost today (Nov 26) with the launch of the Diagnostics Development (DxD) Hub, anchored by the Agency for Science and Technology Research.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office S Iswaran touring the facility. Photo: Ooi Boon Keong

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office S Iswaran touring the facility. Photo: Ooi Boon Keong

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SINGAPORE – The Republic’s biomedical research sector received a boost today (Nov 26) with the launch of the Diagnostics Development (DxD) Hub, anchored by the Agency for Science and Technology Research.

The S$60 million hub, funded under the Innovation Cluster Programme, aims to develop the local medical technology sector by bringing together a dream team of clinicians, researchers, entrepreneurs and industry professionals, and integrating their expertise - with the hope of accelerating the creation of diagnostic products and growing the talent pool.

Chief Executive Officer Sidney Yee outlined three areas in which the hub can make a difference – delivering impactful products, empowering start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and engaging overseas partners.

Dr Yee added that start-ups and SMEs, in particular, would be able to “de-risk” as they tap on the technical and regulatory know-how of the hub’s partners.

“SMEs will be able to compete on a global platform, and attract more people to do more highly-skilled work,” she said. “Healthcare delivery is not a local problem. It has to address global needs and take a borderless approach.”

Already, the hub has seven projects in the pipeline, and over 70 others under consideration. Ideally, Dr Yee hopes to have 12 to 15 projects in the hub at any one time.

Local start-up MiRXES has two blood test kits in the works. One assesses the risk of a patient having gastric cancer and thus allows for early detection; while the other indicates whether patients who tested positive for a mammogram have to go for a further biopsy to confirm the presence of breast cancer. Clinical trials for both products start next year.

Co-founder Zhou Lihan explained his three-man team has benefited from the hub.

“Previously, start-ups will have to find their own ways and make their own connections. That’s difficult because we don’t have the necessary resources, connections and credibility,” he said. “Having the DxD Hub as an enabler allows start-ups to be able to connect to more partners globally, and to bring the product to market in faster time.”

With support from the hub, Dr Zhou estimated that the time taken for a research idea to move from the drawing board to the clinical trial stage has been halved to 18 months.

The hub, which was launched today, has been operational since the start of the year. Among its list of 13 partners are healthcare organisations SingHeath and National Healthcare Group, multinational corporations Johnson and Johnson Innovation and Thermo Fisher Scientific, and start-ups and SMEs HistoIndex and iPtec.

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