Pheature 2019: A Patient Centric Journey

Pheature 2019 was held on 21 and 22 September 2019. The event was an inaugural collaboration between the NUS Pharmaceutical Society and International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering Singapore (ISPESG), to feature the latest developments in the biopharmaceutical industry.

Day 1 Panel Discussion moderated by Mr How Ti-Hwei

More than 200 people registered for the event, consisting of students from Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Science and Pharmaceutical Engineering programmes in Singapore. The conference encompassed a series of informative sharing, panel discussions and activities that was aimed at broadening students’ perspectives on the different sectors of the biopharmaceutical industry and how the different job roles come together to formulate a product to meet the needs of the patients. This concept is encapsulated in our naming of this annual event “Pheature”, highlighting our intention to feature different aspects of the biopharmaceutical industry, to the participants.

Pharmaceutical Science students from NUS with A/Prof Rachel Ee

On Day 1, the opening panel discussion titled “Challenges in the Singapore Bio-Pharmaceutical Landscape”, moderated by Mr How Ti-Hwei, Country President of AstraZeneca Singapore, provided participants an overview of the pharmaceutical landscape in Singapore. The programme for the day included talks, case studies and panel discussions to enable participants from different fields of study to interact with one another and also the speakers. There were three tracks from which participants could choose to attend: diabetes mellitus, biosimilars and Industry 4.0.

The highlight of Day 2 was the major panel discussion, “Cell and Gene Therapy: How Far is Too Much?”

The second day started with a panel discussion, “Cell and Gene Therapy: How Far is Too Much?”, moderated by Professor Kon Oi Lian, Deputy Chair of the Bioethics Advisory Committee. The debate was a key highlight of the 2-day conference. The rest of the day consisted of workshops that focused on areas such as Project Management, Operational Excellence and Novel Technologies for patients.

Participants working on a problem during the workshop Fundamentals of Project Management

All in all, Pheature was an inaugural collaborative effort for students, by students, to form networks and learn from experts in the biopharmaceutical industry. On behalf of the planning committee, we would like to thank our speakers and strategic partners AstraZeneca, Esco, SingBio, Americor Resources, Longrunn Medical, NUS Office of Alumni Relations, ISPE and NUSPS for making Pheature a success!

Article written by Mr Yeo Shao Jie (Class of ‘21)