Milestones & Achievements

Vision Defined

The Ministry of Health (MOH) approved the establishment of a national cell therapy facility to be sited at the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS).

Strategic Foundations

The National Cell Therapy Centre Implementation Office (NCTC IO) was set up to oversee the development of cell therapy services in Singapore and the operationalisation of the National Cell Therapy Facility (CTF) under the working name National Cell Therapy Centre (NCTC).

Infrastructure & Identity

NCTC evolved into ACTRIS, a programme of the Consortium for Clinical Research and Innovation, Singapore (CRIS), and the design and fit-out works for ACTRIS commenced.

Resilience & Readiness

Despite disruptions from the global pandemic, ACTRIS advanced the development of its facility and expanded its skilled workforce.

National Launch & Expansion

ACTRIS was officially launched by Mr Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Health and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies. 

The first investigational cell therapy product, an autologous dendritic cell vaccine for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, was manufactured at ACTRIS for a clinical trial at NCCS.

ACTRIS and A*STAR’s Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI) established the Process Accelerator for Cell Therapy Manufacturing (PACTMAN) programme to deepen Singapore’s process development capabilities.

Certification & Patient Impact

ACTRIS received its Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Certification for Manufacturing of Investigational Finished Products and Manufacturer’s Licence for Finished Products for Specially Authorised Clinical Use.

The first clinical service product, an autologous chimeric antigen receptor T-cell for the treatment of blood cancer, was manufactured by ACTRIS for use under the Innovative Salvage Therapy framework at the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS).