Singapore- Around close to 100 students, young entrepreneurs and start-ups joined the From Molecules to Medicines (FMTM) interactive game tournament at the innovfest unbound to mark the global debut of the FMTM serious games by Bayer. For the first time, through this interactive game, the public is able to take a peek behind the scene at the different stages of research and development (R&D) required to create new and potentially life-saving drugs.

Asia accounts for a significant proportion of difficult-to-treat diseases such as cancer, and cardiovascular diseases prevalent in the aging population, driving demand for innovative medicines. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the world and half of the cases of CVD are estimated to occur in Asia. Asia also accounts for half the global burden of cancer. The incidence of cancer cases in Asia is estimated to reach 10.6 million in 2030. Although billions of dollars and man hours are spent on research of innovative medicines, finding a treatment can take up to 15 years, with only a tiny fraction of all drugs being eventually approved for use in people.

Mr Claus Zieler, Senior Vice President & Head of Commercial Operations, Bayer Pharmaceuticals Division Asia Pacific said, “We launched the new  From Molecules to Medicine interactive edutainment to give the public an understanding of the elaborate and complex processes required to develop breakthrough therapies. We hope this will encourage the wider community to take an interest in science and research, and eventually contribute their ideas to solving the region’s healthcare challenges.”

The games are part of the new FMTM app and are available to download for free from the Apple Store (iOS). The players accomplished various steps to create a new drug starting with identifying a target where a drug could act on, finding a suitable molecule, through the different preclinical and clinical development stages, and finally obtaining the regulatory approvals necessary to prescribe the new drug to the patients who need it. Four teams with the highest scores each won prizes worth S$500 and a board game developed by Bayer and Taiwanese start-up BIG FUN.

Besides launching the FMTM serious games, Bayer also hosted the Precision Medicine: Engineering the Future panel dialogue at the event, inviting leading experts to share their perspectives on embracing precision medicine for the future of healthcare. Revolutionary treatment approaches, including Larotrectinib (LOXO-101) which identifies and treats cancers by targeting neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase (NTRK) gene fusions was introduced.