26 March 2008

New Academy for pharmaceutical industry

SHAPING EXCELLENCE: The Singapore Academy of GxP Excellence (SAGE) will train high quality workforce and promote best pharmaceutical practices.

There is a growing demand for safe and effective health products, as well as more stringent scientific standards for regulating such products in the pharmaceutical industry. The Singapore Academy of GxP Excellence (SAGE) was launched (25 March) to meet such demands, with aims to train high quality workforce and promote best pharmaceutical practices.

The Academy is a joint collaboration between NUS, the Economic Development Board (EDB), the Health Sciences Authority of Singapore (HSA) and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) as well as leading pharmaceutical companies. It will develop training programmes in a collaborative educational environment involving major stakeholders — academia, health authorities and industry — based on the GxP guidelines.  

G stands for "Good" and P stands for "Practice" with the practice descriptor "x" in between. They are guidelines in manufacturing (GMP), clinical research (GCP) and vigilance or health product safety (GVP) to ensure safe, quality and effective products such as medicines, cosmetics, traditional medicines and medical devices for public use. 

Said Assoc Prof Chan Sui Yung, who heads SAGE as well as the Department of Pharmacy: "The faculty members at SAGE will be drawn from the academia, health authorities and major industry players in Singapore and overseas. It will be the first centre in this region that will harness state-of-the-art technologies to deliver global programmes efficiently and effectively.  It will continually identify education and training gaps and provide relevant course content."

Targeting at professionals, managers, executives and technicians in the pharmaceutical industry and those who are interested to make a switch to the industry, SAGE will offer continuing education for basic degree holders and those with Diploma and ITE qualifications. The Academy plans to train 300 to 500 professionals per year.

Interested applicants can call SAGE at 65168977 or visit http://www.pharmacy.nus.edu.sg/SAGE.htm