Pharma Innovation Programme Singapore (PIPS)
The Pharma Innovation Programme Singapore (PIPS) is an industry-led platform which aims to synergistically and strategically bring together public sector research capabilities and domain expertise of the pharmaceutical industry to enhance the productivity and operational efficiency within Singapore’s pharmaceutical sector through leveraging novel manufacturing technologies and data analytics.
CARES has three collaborations with PIPS.
Development of Multi-Step Processes in Pharma
With funding from PIPS via A*STAR
Development of Multi-Step Processes in Pharma is led by Professor Alexei Lapkin. This is a three-year project which commenced in June 2019.
Project summary: For a given active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), the complexity of the multi-step chemical synthesis and purification, and the enormous number of possible reagent and reaction condition combinations are significant bottlenecks for rapid large-scale manufacturing. This project focuses on developing a novel automated self-optimising system that can rapidly identify sustainable and high yielding multi-step chemistry and purification routes in tandem. This will be achieved by combining programmable chemical handling equipment, analytical tools and machine learning.
Dr Mohammed Jeraal and Dr Simon Sung, researchers on the ‘Development of Multi-Step Processes in Pharma’ project.
Data2Knowledge in the Digital Manufacture of Pharmaceuticals
With funding from PIPS via A*STAR
Data2Knowledge in the Digital Manufacture of Pharmaceuticals is led by Professors Alexei Lapkin and Markus Kraft. This is a 15-month project and commenced in December 2020.
Project summary: The digitalisation of chemical manufacturing is one of the critical technology paths towards a more sustainable society, as it promises to deliver a significant level of decarbonisation of industry. It focuses on creating a digital twin of the physical entities that bridges the gap between the cyber- and the real-world, shortening the time span from design to the delivery of the target product to the end-users. Data2Knowledge is a project that aims to develop a fully automated data exchange and knowledge management within a closed-loop self-optimisation experiment.
Digital Workflow and Continuous Processing in Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing
With funding from Pfizer as part of PIPS
Digital Workflow and Continuous Processing in Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing is led by Professor Alexei Lapkin. This is a two-year project which commenced in January 2021.
Project summary: Transformation of manufacturing in the pharmaceutical industry to new emerging business models (on demand, customisation, sustainable manufacturing, etc.) is heavily dependent on the development of supporting technologies, such as a novel manufacturing paradigm of fully continuous processes and digital tools for support of R&D and manufacturing. A number of current challenges in the supporting technologies are interlinked. Thus, development of effective flow processes and the use of continuous flow technology in manufacturing requires innovation in process modelling, reactor technology/reactor manufacturing, process data monitoring and knowledge management. This requirement spans the areas of synthesis, process engineering, process control, data science and artificial intelligence.