Extraordinary Endeavors in Turbulent Times: Asian Innovation, Inclusion, and Impact during COVID-19

ASIA BUSINESS COUNCIL HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 7 1 Temasek (Singapore) Extraordinary Endeavors in Turbulent Times As a clinical-stage biotechnology company, Tychan focuses on infectious diseases and monoclonal antibodies that began due to the Ebola outbreak. Alsagoff appeared heartened to see the company contributing to the global fight against COVID-19. “The founders are American and Singaporean, so they spend some time in Singapore as part of the Singapore-MIT alliance,” he said. “They were confident that they had a solution to Ebola, and Temasek supported and funded them. Ebola died down, so it never went to Phase 2. They then focused on the Zika Virus and Yellow Fever outbreaks. For Yellow Fever, they worked very quickly and went from concept to Phase 1 trials in seven months, a process that usually takes 18 months. It took them four months to develop antibodies for the coronavirus.” In addition, Temasek Foundation partnered with Temasek’s portfolio company Advanced MedTech (AMTH) to design and manufacture critical care ventilators in Singapore. As a medical device company, AMTH is currently getting approval from HSA for its Alpha range of ventilators, which allows for remote management and monitoring. This would be the first ventilator to offer such capabilities and is especially relevant for pandemics and infectious diseases. The manufacturing facility has been set up at AMTH’s Technology Center in Tuas, which is a planning area in the West region of Singapore. When production is fully ramped up, 200 ventilators can be produced monthly, with the ability to scale up depending on market needs. TyChan is a clinical stage biotechnology company that focuses on infectious diseases Temasek brought together clinicians in hospitals for user feedback and developed the prototypes in engineering research labs with 3D printing capabilities. As Alsagoff remarked, “this took several months as we had to go through clinical trials – no shortcuts.”