biological data and approach the problem of studying complex diseases from a more encompassing perspective of a cell and its system. Through intensive use of computational biology, LSB hopes to discover new drug targets and biomarkers, and better understand mechanisms of action within the cell.

In addition to drug-discovery firms, Singapore has also begun to market itself as a regional clinical trials center. The country is exploiting several advantages including a good healthcare system, a multi-racial population for studying drug effects, and an ideal location for drug trials on Asian diseases. They have had some early success attracting companies like Pharmacia, Novo Nordisk and some of the large contract research organizations (CROs) to establish clinical trial centers in Singapore. Johns Hopkins University and the National University Hospital (Singapore) set up an International Medical Center to provide patient care and to conduct clinical trials in oncology. This center also offers clinical education programs and degrees in conjunction with the National University of Singapore. Despite these early successes, there are still relatively few clinical trials taking place in Singapore. This may be due to the strong and growing competition for the Asian clinical research market from Taiwan, Australia and Japan, which have the advantage of larger domestic markets and the fact that pharmaceutical companies may be reluctant to use these clinical trial centers due to an unproven track record.

While the above progress suggests some degree of success in replicating the strategy of leveraging MNCs in the biotechnology sector, limitations of this strategy have become evident. S*Bio for example, has grown rapidly in terms of manpower, but without any distinctive IP, it is nearly impossible to create a competitive advantage for itself. In addition, it has struggled to recruit the experienced managerial talent needed to provide strategic direction, with a lack of local candidates and difficulty attracting top people from abroad. Thus far, it has not been able to compensate for the lack of internal talent by forming partnerships with other Singapore companies or research institutes. S*Bio’s early struggles, along with the difficulty EDB has had in convincing other DBFs to locate in Singapore, suggest the strategy of relying on MNCs to catalyze the growth of a research-driven biotechnology industry may prove difficult to execute. SurroMed, a US-based firm specializing in molecular bar-coding technology, for instance, opened a US$25 million R&D center in 2001 with direct investment from EDB. A lot of publicity accompanied this investment, but two years later, Surromed’s Singapore subsidiary has been disbanded, and the scientists were incorporated into the Institute of Bioengineering while the technology was returned to the parent company.

Alongside these MNCs, a small set of start-up companies have emerged in Singapore’s biotech cluster. These start-up firms bear a much closer resemblance to early stage counterparts in the U.S. or U.K. than they do to the better-resourced, government-backed ventures like S*Bio and Merlion. They have typically been based on IP from a university or the inspiration of an entrepreneur and are trying to fill the void between the basic research of the university labs and the more mature commercial 6