Pharma’s Thirst for Pure, Clean Water
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Social
The need to meet stringent manufacturing standards is pushing pharmaceutical companies to embrace new technologies and enhance their sustainability efforts
The water industry in Asia, especially Singapore, has been booming, thanks to global pharmaceutical companies moving their operations to the region to be closer to their customers. Even as electronics manufacturers moved out of Singapore, beginning in the 1980s, pharma firms have moved in to fill the demand for high quality water, which is driven by strict regulations from the likes of the EuropeanUnion.
According to the US research firm IMS Consulting Group, the region's pharma market is expected to reach US$350 billion in 2016, accounting for 30 per cent of the global pharma market and driving close to 50 percent of global growth through 2016. Asia is therefore becoming an increasingly importance manufacturing base for the pharmaindustry.
The fact that the city is home to more than 170 water companies - involved in everything from research, design, treatment and manufacturing - is definitely a boon for thesedrug-makers.
From electronics topharma
Indeed, Veolia Water Technologies has seen the pharmaceutical and healthcare segment in Southeast Asia grow by "a few hundred percent" over the past decade orso.
Veolia Water Technologies, which has its Southeast Asian headquarters in Singapore for the Industrial activities, has witnessed first-hand the shift to pharmaceutical manufacturing from electronics production in Singapore during the three decades it has been based in thecity.
Manufacturers such as Seagate, IBM and Samsung all moved their factories to cheaper locations elsewhere in Southeast Asia such as Malaysia andThailand.
"We were among the biggest suppliers of pure water to the microelectronics industry in Singapore and Southeast Asia during the 80s and 90s, and there is similarity in the requirements for the pharmaceutical industry even though validation protocol is very different," says Chiang Heng Kheng, business development director, solutions business line, Singapore & Indonesia for Veolia WaterTechnologies.
Source: Eco-Business
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