SINGAPORE, 17 July 2024 — Leading global biotechnology company Amgen, and NSG BioLabs, Singapore’s largest provider of biotech co-working biosafety level 2 laboratories, celebrate the successful conclusion of their third annual Amgen Golden Ticket competition today. This year marked a significant milestone with a doubling of applicants compared to last year, reflecting burgeoning interest in the industry and the vibrancy of Singapore’s biotech ecosystem. Collaborative initiatives, such as the Amgen Golden Ticket, exemplify the commitment of industry leaders like Amgen and NSG BioLabs to advancing Singapore’s biotech landscape and supporting innovative and high-growth startups. Building on the success of the awards programme, Amgen and NSG BioLabs are pleased to announce the extension of the Amgen Golden Ticket Programme for another three years.
This year, PairX Bio, a pre-clinical stage biotech company that pairs novel biology-based cancer targets with optimal therapeutic modalities to revolutionise cancer-selective biologics, was awarded the Amgen Golden Ticket. This entitles them to invaluable mentorship opportunities within Amgen’s expansive network of scientific and business leaders. PairX Bio will also benefit from a year-long residency at NSG BioLabs’ fully-equipped lab space designed with scientists in mind.
"We are thrilled to witness the growing impact of the Amgen Golden Ticket Programme over the past three years in Singapore. Like other successful Golden Ticket initiatives sponsored by Amgen around the world, this programme has been pivotal in fostering innovation and supporting promising companies such as PairX Bio. Their breakthrough research in oncology holds the potential to drive impactful advancements in patient care in the future. We take pride in contributing to the biotech sector in Singapore and remain committed to nurturing the next generation of biotech leaders with our extended commitment through 2027," said Dr. Alan Russell, Vice President, Biologics Therapeutic Discovery, Amgen.
“We are deeply honoured to receive Amgen’s prestigious Golden Ticket Award. This recognition validates the groundbreaking work of our team to develop next-generation cancer-selective biologics. We are grateful for Amgen's support and proud to be part of the vibrant life sciences ecosystem in Singapore, where collaboration and innovation are driving significant advancements in healthcare. We look forward to leveraging this opportunity to further our mission of transforming cancer treatment and improving patient outcomes,” said David M. Epstein, Co-founder, CEO and President, PairX Bio.
The accolade follows in the footsteps of past recipients like Albatroz Therapeutics, a pre-clinical stage biotech company that develops therapeutic antibodies to treat solid tumors, and VerImmune, an immuno-oncology company focused on redirecting pre-existing immune memory from past infections or childhood vaccines to target cancer. Both winners benefited from the mentorship and access to industry that helped them accelerate their research and development efforts. Albatroz raised their seed funding round of US$3 million in early 2023 while VerImmune raised US$3.1 million in 2023 following an initial US$2.5 million raise in 2022, and achieved milestones such as a successful FDA pre-IND meeting.
"NSG BioLabs empowers biotech startups by providing top-tier BSL-2 laboratory spaces, offering scientists a conducive environment to conduct their research, and bring their ideas to fruition. By fostering connections between leading pharmaceutical companies and pioneering startups, we cultivate collaboration that drives healthcare advancements. We deeply appreciate our strong partnership with the Amgen team and look forward to future collaborations with other industry leaders. Together, we are dedicated to advancing Singapore's biotech sector, fostering an environment where ideas thrive and transformative innovations flourish," said Daphne Teo, CEO and Founder, NSG BioLabs.
NSG BioLabs Partners with CapitaLand on its Fourth Facility at Geneo in Singapore Science Park to Create Southeast Asia’s Largest Co-working Laboratory
Hot on the heels of the successful conclusion of its third annual Amgen Golden Ticket competition, NSG BioLabs is joining forces with CapitaLand to launch a new innovation hub at the Geneo life sciences and innovation cluster in Singapore Science Park. Combining CapitaLand’s real estate expertise with NSG BioLabs’ deep experience and networks in the biotech ecosystem, this collaboration will create Southeast Asia’s largest co-working laboratory space at approximately 35,000 square feet.
The state-of-the-art hub will feature shared wet labs, flexible workspaces, and a well-equipped meeting and conference venue, catering to the R&D and collaboration needs of life science and deep tech companies. This dynamic hub aims to empower enterprises of all sizes to foster collaborative innovation, leading to groundbreaking discoveries and scaled ventures. This expansion will also bring NSG BioLab’s total size to more than 70,000 square feet, making it the largest co-working biotech lab in Southeast Asia.
“CapitaLand's partnership with NSG BioLabs marks an exciting new development for Geneo at Singapore Science Park as we introduce the biotech co-working lab space to support the growth and development of the life sciences and deep tech companies in Singapore. From developing pioneering products to fostering industry engagements, Geneo is set to become a key driver of innovation and collaboration in Singapore's thriving life sciences and deep tech sectors,” said Mr. Chew Peet Mun, Managing Director, Investment and Development, CapitaLand Development Singapore.
With rising healthcare burdens and evolving pandemics, the need for stronger collaboration within the ecosystem has become increasingly critical to discover solutions that can make an impact on society. NSG BioLabs is excited to continue partnering with industry leaders like Amgen and CapitaLand in joint missions to support the growing biotech ecosystem.
The upcoming co-working laboratory innovation hub is one of the key features of Geneo, which comprises three properties with five state-of-the-art buildings that will offer about 1.94 million sq ft of gross floor area with work-live-play elements when fully completed in 2025. Geneo is jointly developed by CapitaLand Development and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT.
About Amgen
Amgen harnesses the best of biology and technology to fight the world’s toughest diseases, and make people’s lives easier, fuller and longer. We helped establish the biotechnology industry, and we remain on the cutting-edge of innovation, using technology and human genetic data to push beyond what’s known today. Our investment in research and development has yielded a robust pipeline that builds on our existing portfolio of medicines to treat cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, inflammatory diseases and rare diseases.
Amgen is one of 30 companies comprising the Dow Jones Industrial Average®, and part of the Nasdaq-100 Index®. In 2024, Amgen was named one of the “World’s Most Innovative Companies” by Fast Company and one of “America’s Best Large Employers” by Forbes.
For more information, visit Amgen.com and follow us on X, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Threads.
About NSG BioLabs
Founded with a focus on supporting biotech innovation, NSG BioLabs offers state-of-the-art equipment, efficient operations, capital efficiency, the expertise of world-class teams and global networks to assist life sciences companies. The conducive R&D environment contains fully-equipped, certified BSL-2 laboratory and office infrastructure across 70,000 sq ft within Singapore’s biomedical science clusters, Biopolis and Singapore Science Park.
By providing access to high-quality infrastructure, its extensive partner network, community, and value-add benefits, NSG BioLabs ensures that companies, ranging from emerging biotech startups to multinational companies, can rapidly and efficiently execute on their cutting-edge research and development ecosystem in Singapore, leading to the innovation of revolutionary technologies and products that translate into breakthrough biotech ventures and impact for patients. For more information, visit www.nsgbio.com
About PairX Bio
PairX Bio is pioneering the development of next-generation cancer-selective biologics by identifying novel, highly prevalent, tumor-selective cell surface variants. Our biology-driven approach reveals a new class of therapeutic targets that can be paired with a variety of optimal therapeutic modalities. Founded on IP exclusively licensed from Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, PairX Bio is advancing a robust pipeline of potential first- and best-in-class tumor-selective therapies targeting prevalent cancers in substantial patient populations. PairX Bio is backed by top-tier investors with Seed financing led by Versant Ventures.
For more information, find us on LinkedIn.
About CapitaLand Group (www.capitaland.com)
CapitaLand Group (CapitaLand) is one of Asia’s largest diversified real estate groups. Headquartered in Singapore, CapitaLand’s portfolio focuses on real estate investment management and real estate development, and spans across more than 260 cities in over 40 countries.
Within its ecosystem, CapitaLand has developed an integrated suite of investment management and operating capabilities that supports its real estate businesses and platforms in building core competencies across the real estate value chain. With this full stack of capabilities, CapitaLand can optimise the strategies of its listed real estate investment management business CapitaLand Investment, and its privately held property development arm CapitaLand Development; to drive competitive advantage for its businesses.
CapitaLand places sustainability at the core of what it does. As a responsible real estate company, CapitaLand contributes to the environmental and social well-being of the communities where it operates, as it delivers long-term economic value to its stakeholders.
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Media Contact
The Hoffman Agency, NSGBioLabsSEA@hoffman.com
[i] https://www.albatroztherapeutics.com/news/albatroz-therapeutics-secure-3-million-to-develop-first-ever-therapy-blocking-a-universal-process-involved-in-the-growth-and-spread-of-cancerous-solid-tumors-and-arthritic-cartilage-degradation/
[ii] https://www.verimmune.com/news/verimmune-inc-announces-over-3m-additional-funding
[iii] https://www.verimmune.com/news/verimmune-announces-positive-pre-ind-meeting-with-fda