S$126.4m funding for eight biomedical sciences projects

SINGAPORE: Singapore has announced on Friday eight biomedical sciences research projects costing a collective S$126.4 million.

The announcement was made at this year’s Biomedical Sciences International Advisory Council meeting, the main consulting body for the Biomedical Sciences Initiative.

The projects cover genetic orphan diseases, eye diseases and gastric cancer.

The Biomedical Sciences Initiative began in 2000 to build up Singapore’s clinical research capabilities.

Since then, the biomedical sciences industry has seen business expenditure on biomedical sciences research and development grow from S$47 million in 2000 to S$574 million in 2011.

The council has also announced its plans to expand its research to food, nutrition and medical technology.

"Think about tele—medicine, think about technology in the homes, that you can monitor patients in their homes without them having to go into a hospital environment," said Richard Sykes, chairman of the Biomedical Sciences International Advisory Council.

"That helps the patient, it helps the hospital, it helps everybody. So using more devices to monitor health, to treat health, to prevent disease is very important."

— CNA/jc