Sustainability of Rare Disease Fund and Availability of Donor-authorised Principal for Cell, Tissue and Gene Therapy Products

Mr Low Wu Yang Andre asked the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health (a) what were the Rare Disease Fund's fund size, investment income, donations and expenditure for each of FY2023 to FY2025; (b) how many patient applications were received, approved, rejected or pending in each year; and (c) what donor-authorised principal is presently available for drawn down of donation for Cell, Tissue and Gene Therapy Products.

Mr Ong Ye Kung: As at end-Financial Year (FY) 2025, the Rare Disease Fund's (RDF's) fund size is $187 million – $155 million is held in endowment and $32 million is an expendable amount to support patients.

Given that the number of applications is not big and fluctuates from year-to-year, we have provided aggregate figures for FY2023 to FY2025. Over this period, the RDF received $4.9 million in donations, $15.6 million in Government matching grants and $1.4 million in realised investment income; seven applications were received and six were approved, while $3,400,000 were used to support 14 patients.

RDF was extended to support Cell, Tissue and Gene Therapy Products (CTGTP) treatments in 2023. Following this recent expansion, about $4 million is currently available to support applications from patients requiring CTGTP treatments.