The Business Times, 25 Jan 2005
MM Lee inspires Biosensors to success
His suggestion to win international recognition is now its core strategy

By: Chen Hui Fen

SOUND advice from a visionary political leader paid off for medical device maker Biosensors International, which today counts as one of the success stories of Singapore biomedical R&D.

According to its CEO Lu Yoh Chie, advice he received from Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew during a private company introduction in 2000 serves as an inspiration for his company's growth strategy.

'The question I posed after my presentation to him was, 'Mr Lee, what would you give me, if you had to give a piece of advice to somebody who's in this field and believe that we have superior technology?'

'He paused for a while and told me, 'If you can convince world leaders in this field of the features and benefits of this product, then you would be successful'.'

And so, Mr Lu sought to have his product recognised at international conferences. Then, Biosensors already had a winner in its S-stent. The stent, while keeping a blocked coronary artery open after surgery, was more flexible than others on the market then, and built for the smaller Asian physique.

By 2002, the company had developed a biodegradable, drug-eluting stent, which shot to fame when it made its debut at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference held in Washington DC, in 2002.

'Since the TCT conference, I was invited by Merrill Lynch, Piper Jaffray, Bear Stearns - these are securities firms involved very actively in the medical technology field - to give presentations, to meet their clients. Through them, I became known and was recognised by the Wall Street people.'

Biosensors also clinched a US$20 million licensing deal with US cardiovascular medical product firm Guidant Corp, followed by another deal with Japan's medical technology company Terumo Corp for an undisclosed amount.

All that, besides providing income flow for its future R&D, also helped the company generate an enviable revenue size.

For FY2004 ended March 31, Biosensors raked in about $30 million in revenue from the licensing of its technologies. Including the $21 million that sales of its metal stents brought in, the company generated $51 million and a profit of about $15 million.

Although its operations and investors are largely based in Singapore, the company chose to make its first imprint in US and Europe, rather than in Asia. The strategy was to leave a deep impression on the opinion leaders in the field.

'Asian doctors so far in this field tend to be followers,' explained Mr Lu. 'So what I did was, instead of trying to break my entry into Asian circles first, I went to America, get the recognition. Then when I come here, it will be an easier entry.'

Yesterday, the group unveiled the clinical results of its drug-eluting stents at Singapore Live 2005, an annual convention organised by the National Heart Centre. Its BioMatrix drug-eluting stent that was implanted in a Singapore patient last year showed zero restenosis (the re-narrowing of a coronary artery after corrective surgery).

The finding was in line with its clinical trial results in Germany in which 120 patients were implanted with the same product. The level of restenosis was reduced to 3.9 per cent, compared with the 7.7 per cent showed by its bare metal stents.

The next step would be to commercialise the product. Senior vice-president and managing director Loh Chee Min said the company is seeking approval from the Health Sciences Authority for the local distribution of the BioMatrix drug-eluting stent.

And in Europe, it will also submit documentation for distribution approval from the relevant authorities soon. After that, Biosensors will just have to wait for the green light for a bigger slice of the stent market.