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Saturday November 10, 10:17 PMFramework to be developed to help S'pore fight infectious diseasesSINGAPORE: The National Research Foundation will develop expertise on infectious diseases as the next step of Singapore's Biomedical Sciences Initiative, foundation chair Dr Tony Tan announced Saturday.The National Research Foundation will also work with its partners to develop a 10-year framework to help position Singapore as a hub for research and education in cross-border diseases such as SARS, avian flu and dengue. Dr Tan noted at the National Healthcare Group Annual Scientific Congress that managing such diseases are more challenging partly because of sovereignty issues, so agencies including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be brought into the process. The Health Ministry is also developing new diagnostics for emerging infectious diseases. Aside from existing infrastructure, one expert said Singapore's experience in some diseases is an advantage. "For example, for dengue, we have huge populations of adults with dengue infection. That is rather peculiar if you look around this region. The key essence here is to utilise our clinical material for us to gain more learning and knowledge from them, and essentially the information that results will still go back to support patient care," said Communicable Disease Centre’s clinical director Associate Professor Leo Yee Sin. The focus of the current phase of the Biomedical Sciences Initiative is to bring innovations quickly and safely into clinical practice, which will ultimately result in better patient care. But Dr Tan said while translational work is done, more effort needs to be put into one other area. "A significant part of the work will have to be done with human subjects, and they have to be informed, they have to give permission, they have to be volunteers, so it is necessary to have a public education program to explain why translational and clinical research is beneficial," he explained. Dr Tan added that as more drugs are developed, there may be a need to conduct clinical trials in neighbouring countries as well. - CNA/ac |
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