Chugai Pharma Opens $200m Antibody Lab In Singapore

Tokyo-based Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. has officially opened a new laboratory in Singapore that will conduct research into new antibody drugs.

AsianScientist (Jul. 16, 2012) – Tokyo-based Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. officially opened on Friday a new laboratory in Singapore that will conduct research into new antibody drugs.

The Singapore-based Chugai Pharmabody Research Pte. Ltd. (CPR) will screen antibody drug candidates for therapeutic potential using Chugai’s proprietary antibody engineering technologies.

The new facility will be located at Singapore’s Biopolis R&D hub and employ approximately 60 researchers. A*STAR Chief Scientist David Lane is the chairman of the board of the venture.

Chugai is expected to invest S$200 million (US$158 million) into the lab over five years.

According to a company press statement, CPR aims to generate five or more drug candidates per year for its drug pipeline. It will make use of its proprietary recycling antibody technology, which uses a single antibody molecule to repeatedly block the function of the target antigen and eliminate it from plasma.

CPR will be Chugai’s fourth satellite research institute following its C&C Research Laboratories in South Korea; Pharmalogicals Research Pte. Ltd. in Singapore; and Forerunner Pharma Research Co., Ltd. in Tokyo.
 
Chugai Pharma’s latest venture follows a number of Japanese companies that are setting up R&D hubs in Singapore.

In April 2012, Toshiba Corporation opened an Aqua Research Center at the WaterHub in Singapore, its first water treatment R&D center located outside of Japan.

In February 2012, petrochemical manufacturer Sumitomo Chemical opened a solution styrene-butadiene rubber (S-SBR) manufacturing plant in Singapore.

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Source: Chugai Pharma.
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