Pfizer opens $lb plant in Tuas to make key medicine ingredients

US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer opened its new $1 billion plant in Singapore on July 23.

- Ovais Subhani

The 429,000 sq ft plant in Tuas Biomedical Park will produce active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) the biologically active component of a drug - for Pfizer's cancer, pain and antibiotic medicine.

The new investment will create 250 new highly skilled jobs, said the company.

Pfizer said the state-of-the-art facility, an extension of its 20-yearold site here, has passed all necessary final performance qualification checks and begun commercial manufacturing of products.

The facility has also achieved a Green Mark gold certification, a Singapore accreditation for environmental sustainability, and will help move Pfizer towards its goal of achieving the voluntary net-zero standard by 2040.

Mr Mike McDermott, chief global supply officer and executive vice-president of Pfizer, said the new plant will be one of the most highly automated among the company's more than 30 manufacturing sites, which are spread across six continents.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr McDermott said: "This expanded facility not only grows our overall manufacturing footprint, but also strengthens our ability to manufacture breakthrough medicine that change patients' lives."