Sanofi SA added a new plant in Singapore to make vaccines and other medicines, as the French pharmaceutical group seeks to bolster preparedness for emergencies, including potential pandemics.

The facility, named Modulus, came up at investment of S$800 million (US$600 million or RM2.64 billion) at the Tuas Biomedical Park in the city state, according to a statement. It can be adapted to manufacture up to four vaccines or biopharmaceuticals at the same time, and will be fully operational in mid-2026 and create 200 skilled jobs in Singapore.

Modulus can also be reconfigured within a few days to transform between technological platforms, a process which traditionally takes months or years, the company said. It can house the equivalent of 34 standardised production modules.

The modular factory enables the company to respond with urgency in the event of public health challenges, Brendan O’Callaghan, the executive vice-president of manufacturing and supply, said in the statement. Sanofi completed another such modular facility in France earlier this year.

The facility’s addition ties in with Singapore’s efforts to boost its vaccine manufacturing capacity. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the island nation had signed advance-purchase agreements with multiple parties, made early down payments for most promising vaccine candidates, including with Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Sinovac, and had arranged with pharmaceutical firms to facilitate their clinical trials and drug development in Singapore.

Earlier this year, AstraZeneca plc said it plans to build a US$1.5 billion manufacturing facility, which is scheduled to open in 2029 to make antibody-drug conjugates. Novartis AG in March said it will spend US$256 million to add to its biopharmaceutical manufacturing site, just a few months after AbbVie Inc unveiled a US$223 million expansion of an existing manufacturing site.

  - Bloomberg