ISPE Singapore Conference 2010
6th – 8th June, SUNTEC Singapore
With the theme of “Celebrating Growth and Continuous Innovation”, the 10th edition
of the annual ISPE Singapore Conference 2010 was co-organised by the Singapore
Affiliate and Reed Exhibitions and was held from 6th till 8th June at SUNTEC Singapore,
with 3 facility visits being conducted on 9th June.
2010 is a special year as the Conference and the Affiliate is into it’s 10th year, and the
occasion was celebrated with a 10th Anniversary Dinner held at the Pan Pacific Hotel in
the evening of 7th June.
Attended by 366 participants (ASEAN countries, India, China, Japan, South Korea and
Australia) from the region, the Conference programme consisted of two half day
workshops conducted on 6th June, with a Keynote Plenary session and 9 breakout
tracks being conducted over the remaining two days (7th till 8th June). Topics relating to
innovation, regulatory issues, automation, biologics, validation, supply chain
management, secondary pharmaceutical manufacturing and Active Pharmaceutical
Ingredients (API) were discussed during the breakout sessions. Feedback from
participants indicated that they found the programme to be well structured and
organised, and the content extremely relevant and beneficial.
Dr. Brenda Uratani
Dr. Kowid Ho
A total of 29 international and regional speakers (from Singapore,
Malaysia, Australia, China, France, Germany, Ireland, United
Kingdom and USA) presented their views and insights at the
conference. Key speakers included Dr. Brenda Uratani, Assistant
Country Director of the FDA China Office in Beijing; Dr. Kowid Ho
from EMA; Michel Lok, Head of Manufacturing Quality from TGA;
Jan Willem Eleveld of IMS Health and Sia Chong Hock of
Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority. Other notable speakers
included Gordon Farquharson and David Vincent, who conducted
the 2 pre-conference workshops focused on Environmental Control
& HVAC Compliance Compatibility and Biologics Facility Cleaning
Validation Programme respectively, in addition to also contributing
during the breakout sessions.
Other speakers including Jenny Hantzinikolas, Dr. Paul Sharratt, Dr.
Alice Redmond, Con Leddy and key senior executives from the
region’s pharmaceutical manufacturers also contributed much to
the success of the Conference by providing insightful presentations.
Each breakout session was well attended by the
participants, who benefited from the knowledge and
information acquired during each presentation and the
subsequent discussions.
Michel Lok
Jan W. Eleveld
The Anniversary Dinner was a joyous event and the
programme for the evening included an award
segment which recognises an individual that had
provided much time and effort in supporting the
activities of the Singapore Affiliate since it’s inception.
Dr. Patrick Yeung was the recipient of the award. Dr.
Gordon
Sia Chong Hock
Yeung, currently a consultant to the industry, was
Farquharson
formerly the Managing Director of Schering-Plough
Singapore Operations and currently is serving as the Chair of the Regulatory Affairs
Committee within the Affiliate. He has also been an active participant in the conference
planning committee since the early days of the Singapore Conference.
Pfizer Asia Pacific and Ngee Ann Polytechnic were also recognised as the Company
and Educational Institution respectively that has contributed the most to educating and
advancing pharmaceutical manufacturing professionals through ISPE related activities
in the last 10 years.
The Singapore Affiliate also organised a Student Poster Competition which saw 9
posters of high quality being submitted. Judging of the posters was conducted at the
Conference on 7th June and the winners were announced during the Anniversary Dinner.
The first prize of a return ticket to attend the ISPE Annual Conference 2010 in Orlando,
Florida was won by Teo Zi Qiang of Nanyang Technological University.
Dr. Patrick Yeung (right) receiving his award from
Singapore Affiliate President Stephen Slater
Teng Choon Seng, EHS Director at Pfizer AP
receiving the award on behalf of Pfizer Asia Pacific
Dr. Julia Gandhi receiving the award on behalf of
Ngee Ann Polytechnic
Winner of the Student Poster Competition, Teo Zi
Qiang, receiving his prize from Stephen Slater
With the region showing signs of recovery from the economic downturn, the Conference
focused on garnering participation from the ASEAN countries as well as provided
complimentary registrations to regulatory agency participants from these countries.
As in past editions of the conference, it also attracted regional participation from senior
to middle level management of the industry, with 74% of the delegates falling within
these two management categories. More than 75% of the participants are professionals
working within the key manufacturing segments of the industry – API, Secondary
manufacturing and biopharma/biologics manufacturing. About 15% of the participants
are working within the contract and generics manufacturing segments, with industry
service providers forming the remaining 10%.
FACILITY VISITS
A key feature of the conference were the facility visits. For this edition, 3 facilities were
opened for qualifying conference participants – MSD Singapore (API Operations),
Roche Singapore Technical Operations and Lonza Biologics. The visitors to these
facilities were given an overview of their respective operations, which was followed by a
guided tour of the facility and a brief discussion session at the end of the tour. Many of
the visitors commented that the visits enabled them to see first hand the world-class
production processes and standards which they hear about during the presentations at
the conference, which reinforced their understanding and appreciation of the information
and knowledge gained at the conference.
A special word of thanks and appreciation has to be accorded to the management and
staff of these facilities who had taken valuable time and resources to organise these
visits which were well received by the delegates and their efforts has contributed much
to the overall success of the Conference.
The ISPE Singapore Conference 2011 is scheduled for 29 – 31 May next year.