More jobs expected from biopharmaceutical sector

Iswaran was opening a US$320-million (Bt11.1-billion) plant of global biopharma firm AbbVie at Tuas Biomedical Park.
It is New York-listed AbbVie’s first manufacturing facility in Asia.
He noted that employment in the sector has more than tripled in 15 years.
Biopharma firms employed 6,000 workers last year, up from 1,900 in 2000.
About 80 per cent of employment went to Singaporeans, he said, adding that the average annual pay packet was about 102,000 Singapore dollars (Bt2.6 million) last year.
Manufacturing also offers opportunities for jobseekers wishing to reskill themselves.
They can tap the government-|sponsored Professional Conversion Programmes, which include the Biologics Overseas Skills Training (Boost) programme.
Since 2014, the Economic Develop-ment Board, Workforce Development Agency, Singapore Polytechnic and Temasek Polytechnic have created close to 700 training positions for Singaporeans to prepare them for |new job opportunities through talent development programmes.
Roche, Lonza, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline have participated in these programmes to provide on-the-job training in their biopharma manufacturing facilities in Singapore and overseas.
The government will continue to invest in innovation as an important growth engine for Singapore’s economy.
Through the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2020 programme, the government will invest S$19 billion over five years across various domains, including advanced manufacturing and engineering, and health and biomedical sciences.
“We will invest resources in developing new manufacturing technologies and capabilities that will enable companies to introduce new products as well as new therapeutic modalities, such as cell therapy and antibody drug conjugates,” he said.