Precision medicine is part of Singapore’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2025 strategic goal to transform and protect the health of every Singaporean. Identified as a priority by the Ministry of Health, precision medicine aims to understand how genomic, phenotypic, lifestyle and clinical factors contribute to the health of Singaporeans. It also supports the responsible use of health data in clinical applications with the longer-term goal of addressing Singapore’s healthcare challenges in a sustainable and clinically cost-effective manner.

2 Singapore’s National Precision Medicine (NPM) strategy is a 10-year plan to enhance and accelerate Singapore’s biomedical research, health outcomes and economic growth. NPM is a whole-of-government effort to establish the necessary frameworks and infrastructure to realise precision medicine on a national scale, to ultimately improve public health, enhance disease prevention and to identify the right treatments for the right individuals and groups. 

3 Phase II of Singapore’s NPM strategy will start in April 2021 with a four-year horizon and it aims to: 

1. Further research insights into the Asian phenotype by analysing the genetic makeup of 100,000 healthy Singaporeans and up to 50,000 patients with specific diseases;
2. Improve patient outcomes by piloting the implementation of precision medicine in clinical practice; and
3. Create new economic opportunities for Singapore’s healthcare and biomedical technology industry by attracting and anchoring overseas companies while yielding new opportunities for home-grown enterprises.
4. To achieve this, Precision Health Research, Singapore (PRECISE), has been set up, as the central entity to drive NPM.

Source: Precision Health Research Singapore (PRECISE)