By CHEN HUIFEN

AMERICAN healthcare firm Abbott Laboratories has announced that it will invest another US$20 million in a nutrition science R&D centre in Singapore, just as it opened a US$300 million manufacturing plant here yesterday.

The new R&D outfit will focus on clinical trials and development of nutrition products tailored to dietary needs of the Asian market, which is growing in importance for the Illinois-headquartered company.

'If you look at the expansion of wealth and the need for healthcare in Asia, whether it's China, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, India, you name it, those are going to be very attractive growth markets,' said CEO Miles White.

'Right now it's the time to build the platforms to grow from, in those markets.'

The new R&D facility is in line with Abbott's plan to strengthen its footprint in the region. The activities conducted here will help the company to better understand the dietary preferences of its Asian consumers.

To be housed at the Biopolis, it will hire 20 scientists for a start and increase the number to 50 over time. They will evaluate ingredients, and conduct studies on cognition, clinical nutrition and food and sensory sciences.

In town for the official opening of Abbott's new paediatric nutrition manufacturing plant in Singapore, Mr White told BT that about 10 per cent of the company's total sales worldwide are in Asia.

However, sales from the region is growing at some 15-19 per cent a year. Manufacturing some of its products in Singapore will allow for faster shipment to retail outlets in the region.

The Singapore plant makes a number of paediatric milk products, including the Similac infant formula line.

At 52,000 sq m, it is the largest nutritional manufacturing facility out of the 11 that Abbott currently operates around the world.

The plant employs about 300 people, including 50 that are dedicated to quality assurance. Including its regional headquarters operations sited here, Abbott employs more than 500 workers in Singapore.

Despite the ongoing recession, Abbott said it is hopeful that the impact from the declining economic conditions will be limited.

It expects regional demand for its nutritional products to continue at a similar growth pace as the products sold here are mainly for infant and medical use.

The nutrition science R&D centre is on top of the US$5 million pharmaceutical R&D outfit opened by Abbott last month.

The latter is focused on analytical R&D on pharmaceutical ingredients and supports the company's drug development programmes across the world.

New York-listed Abbott posted a net income of US$5.2 billion last year, on a 13.9 per cent gain in revenue to US$29.5 billion. Its key products are the arthritis drug Humira, which accounted for US$4.5 billion in global sales, and anti- Aids medicine Kaletra.

Nutritional products contribute US$4.9 billion to its total revenue.

This article was first published in The Business Times.