kopi-C with CEO of Hyphens Pharma International: From dispensary to ASEAN's dermatology specialist

CEO of Hyphens Pharma International, Lim See Wah, did not start the company from scratch. First, he worked there.

Fresh out of the National University of Singapore with a pharmacy degree, Lim joined the Singapore operations of a French-owned pharmaceutical company. 

Years later, after he left the company, the founder decided to step down. Lim returned, this time to buy it.

"Returning years later as the buyer was both humbling and surreal," he says. 

"It wasn't about nostalgia. It was about recognising the potential of the company and what it could become with the right strategic pivot." 

He describes the moment less as going back, and more as "taking responsibility for the company's next chapter."

That chapter, it turned out, would span more than two decades, five ASEAN markets, and a business that now employs over 600 personnel and generated close to S$180 million in annual revenue in FY2025.

Building the bridge

To understand what Hyphens Pharma actually does, it helps to first look at the business model of pharmaceutical companies. Large pharmaceutical companies are typically described as R&D companies—they do research and development, followed by commercialisation. In the case of Hyphens, one might describe it instead as an S&C company: Search & Commercialisation. 

"Our role is to be the bridge between global innovation and local patient access," says Lim. 

"Many European or US pharmaceutical companies have strong products but don't have the on-the-ground capabilities to navigate ASEAN markets."

What Hyphens provides is regulatory expertise, local market knowledge, physician engagement, logistics, and what Lim calls "post-approval execution." 

In other words: getting a drug approved and available in Singapore is one thing. Doing the same across Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines—each with its own regulatory authority, its own approval timeline, its own medical community—is another matter entirely.

"Managing this process requires local professional knowledge," Lim explains. "And approval is just the beginning. You also need pharmacovigilance, medical education, market access and sustained supply reliability."

For global pharmaceutical companies that find ASEAN strategically important but operationally complex, partnering with a regional specialist reduces risk and shortens the time to market. 

This is the gap Hyphens has spent more than twenty-five years filling.

Owning the science

A reality that Lim also understood early was this. Exclusive distribution agreements generate revenue, but they do not generate intellectual property. 

In 2011, Hyphens launched its first proprietary dermatological brand, Ceradan, a scientifically formulated emollient designed for eczema-prone skin. 

It was, in his words, the moment the company "moved from selling third-party products to creating our own intellectual property." 

Then later, rather than simply extending the Ceradan range, Hyphens invested in a fundamentally new formulation built around a different mechanism, addressing skin pH directly.

Lim explains: "Most products currently available in the market have a mildly acidic pH, but they have little or no impact on the skin's own pH."

When skin becomes inflamed, its pH rises, which disrupts the enzymes responsible for maintaining the skin barrier. The new formulation, he says, is designed to actively lower elevated skin pH. In doing so, it helps restore the barrier in a novel way.

This mechanism was distinctive enough to be patented in numerous countries, including Singapore, the United States, Japan, China, and Europe. 

Hyphens has further invested in securing registration for the product as a CE-marked medical device in Europe. Under the brand name Cerapro MED, the product is approved for the treatment of atopic dermatitis. 

At the beginning of this year, renowned Swiss company Louis Widmer in-licensed Cerapro MED for sales across six European countries.  It is expected to reach European pharmacy shelves later this year. The effort to look for more licensees continues.

In the most recent financial year, Hyphens' proprietary brands segment grew 33%, outpacing the rest of the business and driving a record improvement in the group's profit margins.

"Europe is a trust-driven market," says Lim. 

"You need strong clinical proof, conservative claims, consistent manufacturing quality, and the right local partner. Unlike Asia, where growth can be channelled, Europe demands patience and credibility."

A dermatology market that keeps expanding

Closer to home, in Southeast Asia, the dermatology market is large and growing. With a combined population of 680 million, the region has a substantial base of patients with skin conditions ranging from eczema and acne to hyperpigmentation. 

Urbanisation, lifestyle changes, climate and environmental factors are, in Lim's view, accelerating the prevalence of certain conditions rather than reducing them.

But the more interesting dynamic, he suggests, is on the demand side: "As incomes rise, people don't just want treatment, they want long-term skin health and confidence." 

This is what has brought Hyphens into medical aesthetics: injectables, anti-aging treatments, and the growing category of non-surgical procedures that patients now treat more as preventive care rather than cosmetic surgery.

"The typical patient is no longer a niche demographic," he says. 

"It includes working professionals and first-time users seeking subtle, natural results." 

Through its subsidiary Ardence Aesthetics, Hyphens holds exclusive Southeast Asian distribution rights for Plinest and Newest—anti-aging injectable treatments now available in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand.

Emerging opportunities

Worth mentioning too is a strand of the business that is less visible but emerging. 

Built on the foundation of Pan-Malayan, Singapore's longest-established pharmaceutical wholesaler, Hyphens has been developing a digital platform that connects pharmaceutical companies, clinics, and patients across the region. Its B2B marketplace, known as POM, now serves healthcare providers across Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam. 

Alongside it, WellAway—Singapore's first HSA-registered e-pharmacy—allows doctors to prescribe and arrange home delivery directly to patients, and is being positioned to support the public sector's expanding home medication delivery needs.

It is early days, but the direction is consistent with how Hyphens has always tried to operate: by building the connective tissue of the healthcare system, one layer at a time.

The long game in ASEAN

Outside of Singapore, Vietnam is Hyphens’ most established market. Malaysia, in addition, has become the group's third-largest market after a concerted push in recent years.

At the same time, he remains candid about what cannot simply be replicated from one market to the next.

The company entered Vietnam in 1989, making it, in Lim's words, "likely one of the earliest foreign entrants" in the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market. 

Decades of presence have produced a portfolio of products, a network of partnerships, and both a depth and breadth of relationships that took a long time to build. 

"This condition," he acknowledges, "is not easily replicated in other markets."

This reflects how Hyphens thinks about regional expansion. It recognises that scale is not simply copy-pasted. It accumulates.

For someone encountering Hyphens for the first time, Lim is deliberate about framing expectations.

"Hyphens is not a turnaround story or a single-product bet," he says. 

"It is a long-term business platform built around dermatology and other specialty pharmaceuticals, consumer healthcare, and regional execution capabilities."

Growth, he emphasises, may not always be linear, but the strategy is deliberate. 

The company's ability to add value across the pharmaceutical value chain, from regulatory approval to physician engagement to proprietary brand ownership, is what he believes distinguishes it. 

Consistent with the year prior and above its stated minimum payout policy, Hyphens has proposed a dividend of 1.50 cents per share for its most recent financial year.

"If we continue to strengthen our portfolio and execute well across ASEAN, the value creation should naturally follow," he concludes. 

For a pharmacist who once worked the floor of the company he now leads, it is a patient kind of ambition, built on the same logic he has applied since 1989: Show up early. Build trust. Earn the next chapter.

About Hyphens Pharma International Limited 

Hyphens Pharma International Limited and its subsidiaries (the “Group”) is Singapore’s leading specialty pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare group, driven by the belief that everyone deserves access to a better quality of life. 

From its headquarters in Singapore, it maintains a direct presence in Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, with extended reach into Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Hong Kong S.A.R. and Oman. Its five key entities — Hyphens Pharma, DocMed Technology, Ocean Health, Novem and Ardence Aesthetics, collectively advance three core business areas: Pharmaceutical and Medical Aesthetics, Proprietary Brands, and Digital Platform and E-Pharmacy. 

Beyond marketing and distributing specialty pharmaceutical products across selected ASEAN markets through exclusive partnerships with global brand principals, the Group develops and commercialises proprietary dermatological and health supplement products. The Group's integrated ecosystem extends to a medical hypermart and digital pharmacy platform, enabling seamless prescription fulfilment and direct-to-patient medication delivery for healthcare providers.

About kopi-C: the Company brew

kopi-C is a regular column by SGX Research in collaboration with Beansprout, Singapore’s trusted investment intelligence platform which helps everyday investors build the knowledge and confidence to make decisions that matter. kopi-C features C-level executives of leading companies listed on SGX. These interviews are profiles of senior management aimed at helping investors better understand the individuals who run these corporations.