Singapore sets measures to streamline research and accelerate patient access to innovations.
Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority (HSA) announced three initiatives at the inaugural Health Regulatory Conference in Singapore on 12 October 2026 to accelerate healthcare innovation and help beneficial treatments reach patients sooner. Developed with the United Kingdom’s medicines regulator and Singapore government agencies, the measures will coordinate regulatory engagement, streamline clinical research and allow selected product evaluations and health technology assessments to proceed concurrently while maintaining patient safety.
Singapore’s Minister for Health and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies Ong Ye Kung addressed healthcare providers, professionals, industry partners and regulatory experts at the conference. He explained that regulation must evolve alongside technological advances and changing healthcare needs. “We want to ensure that innovation is not held back by regulatory uncertainty, and safety is not compromised in the pursuit of efficiency,” Minister Ong said.
The first initiative involves the Regulatory Innovation Corridor between HSA and the United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). It provides innovators developing breakthrough therapies, including those using artificial intelligence (AI) in drug development and clinical trials, with a coordinated pathway to engage both regulatory authorities. The arrangement aims to clarify requirements, improve trial planning and reduce duplicated work.
The second measure is a common entry point for clinical research and regulatory engagement in Singapore, scheduled to launch in early 2027. Enterprise Singapore, the Economic Development Board (EDB), HSA and the Singapore Clinical Research Institute (SCRI), part of Singapore’s Ministry of Health group, began coordinating the initiative in July 2026. Trial sponsors will receive earlier regulatory consultation and assistance with identifying investigators and coordinating trial sites. Approval timelines for selected lower-risk Phase 3 clinical trials will be halved from 30 days to 15 days.
From November 2026, HSA and the Ministry of Health’s Agency for Care Effectiveness (ACE) will introduce the ACE-HSA Priority Track for selected innovative health products. Regulatory evaluation and health technology assessment will proceed concurrently. For products submitted through ACE’s Company-Led Submission process, the time to the first assessment decision is expected to decrease from about one year to six to nine months after regulatory approval. Both decisions will remain independent, with existing safety and clinical effectiveness standards unchanged.
The conference also addressed Singapore’s plan to consolidate government health regulatory functions under HSA. The Ministry of Health’s regulatory functions and manpower will transfer to HSA on 1 November 2026, followed by the Secretariat of the Healthcare Professionals Board by the end of 2027. HSA will establish a Healthcare Industry Advisory Council in the first half of 2027 to advise on emerging risks, regulatory capabilities and policy development.
Source: Singapore Ministry of Health
