On the 5th (local time), MedTech Hub in western Singapore.
After riding the elevator up a few floors and walking inside, a space unified in white from ceiling to floor and walls appeared. There was barely any machine noise, and the interior temperature was kept constant. Beyond the glass windows that took up more than half the wall, researchers in white coats were moving boxes and kits. There were not many large-scale facilities, but the routes for people and goods were tightly planned.
This is a facility where Singapore biotechnology corporations MiRXES produces early cancer detection kits. The kits made here reach millions each year and are supplied to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Japan, and China.
The space was designed to the principle of high-mix, low-volume. That is because the kits cannot be mass-produced and stockpiled at once. The enzymes, primers, and buffers in the kits lose performance over time.
Jeremiah DeCosta, vice president of operations at MiRXES, who guided the site, said, "We will soon bring in equipment that automatically packages up to 1,000 kits under refrigerated conditions."
DeCosta said, "Such a refrigerated conveyor system is not available on the market, so we co-developed it over two years with the Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC) under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)," adding, "The total expense was about $1.8 million (about 2.655 billion won), including subsidies, and it was possible thanks to support from the National Research Foundation (NRF) and others."
◇ Unicorn born from national research, next is "multi-cancer early detection"
MiRXES is the first biotech unicorn to emerge in Southeast Asia. Listing on the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) this year, its corporate value exceeded $1 billion (about 1.475 trillion won). Last year's revenue was $20.3 million (about 29.9 billion won), and while the scale is not yet large, the growth pace is steep. In 2014, three researchers who were studying early cancer detection technology using microRNA (miRNA) at an institute under A*STAR founded the company.
Its flagship product is GASTROClear. It is a liquid biopsy-based test using miRNA and is regarded as the world's first blood test for early detection of gastric cancer to receive regulatory approval. It has been approved in Singapore and China, and it also received Breakthrough Device designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company developed and supplied the Fortitude RT-PCR kit series and commercialized infectious disease diagnostic products.
It is rapidly expanding its clinical pipeline. Currently, single-cancer early detection kits targeting major solid tumors—including lung cancer (LUNGClear), colorectal cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer, and pancreatic cancer—are in clinical stages, and using the same miRNA platform, a "multi-cancer early detection" product that screens several cancers with a single blood test is also under development.
Alongside early detection, it is also expanding into Precision Medicine. The pipeline includes APEX, a targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) panel that analyzes 58 genes, as well as COMPASS, an NGS test that comprehensively analyzes more than 1,000 genes.
◇ Government steps in as an "operator" beyond support… Pre-investing in infrastructure to attract corporations
The MiRXES case shows more than the performance of an individual corporation; it shows how Singapore has built its bio industry. Since designating the biomedical sector as a national strategic industry in the early 2000s, Singapore has continued long-term investment in research and development. A total of 28 billion Singapore dollars (about 3.192 trillion won) has been allocated to the ongoing Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2025 plan (2020–2025).
The government's role does not stop at funding research. A*STAR handles technology validation and initial commercialization at the stage where research results lead to business, and the Economic Development Board (EDB) attracts global pharmaceutical companies and startups. Enterprise Singapore (ESG) under the Ministry of Trade and Industry supports the introduction of equipment to improve productivity. The reason MiRXES was able to introduce refrigerated automatic packaging equipment was also thanks to this function-sharing structure.
Such policy support is particularly effective at the manufacturing stage. A representative example is the Tuas Biomedical Park industrial complex. By building infrastructure such as roads, power, water, gas, and telecommunications in advance, corporations were enabled to start manufacturing immediately without a long preparation period. On the roughly 2.46 million-square-meter site, global pharmaceutical and medical device corporations such as Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, GSK, and Abbott are moving in alongside local companies.
The MedTech Hub, where MiRXES is located, is a multi-tenant facility for medical device manufacturing corporations. Only the basic structure and essential equipment of the building are provided, and tenants design the interior themselves to suit research and development or manufacturing purposes. High ceilings, structures suitable for clean rooms, loading bays, and freight lifts are conditions that allow early-stage corporations to move into manufacturing without making large-scale facility investments.
At the manufacturing stage, rent is a variable no less important than technology. Vice President DeCosta said, "Even as the company has grown, the lease terms have not changed much," adding, "This is why we say we will keep this site even if we expand our footprint globally." This means Singapore's industrial policy is planned with not only the startup stage but also "post-growth" in mind.