Singapore: Vaccines and drugs developed and tested in Singapore have been accepted into the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Mutual Acceptance of Data framework.
This means they have faster access to the world’s top biomedical markets as they are compliant with the requirements of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP), accepted by some 30 OECD and non-OECD members, including the United States, European Union and Japan.
“Achieving the OECD-MAD status is significant as it will help fuel stronger growth for Singapore’s biomedical sciences industry,” said Mr Png Cheong Boon, chief executive of SPRING Singapore.
“Companies can now fully leverage on Singapore’s GLP-compliant testing facilities to accelerate their drug discovery and development activities, thus shortening their time-to-market for new products.”
With the OECD-MAD status, the need for another round of tests is unnecessary, so it is not just easier but also cheaper for both local and international firms to conduct research in Singapore.
Singapore is the first non-OECD member in Asia to achieve the OECD-MAD status after three years of preparation and currently has three GLP-registered facilities.
According to Spring Singapore’s news release, there were stringent checks before the recognition was given to Singapore.
There were OECD checks to ensure that the local test facilities are as rigorous as those in the OECD countries and are able to produce pre-clinical data of comparable quality.
Singapore had to also show that it could manage the GLP programme and its facilities, and provide trained personnel for the industry.