Business

Tuesday November 17, 2009

Bullish outlook for biotechnology next year

By LEE KIAN SEONG


KUALA LUMPUR: The biotechnology industry sees a better business scenario next year driven by the improving local and global economy, says Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation (BiotechCorp) chief executive officer Datuk Iskandar Mizal Mahmood.

“There are more investment coming from the private sector nowadays as they are aware of the potential in the industry,” he told StarBiz on the sideline of the fourth biotechnology International Advisory Panel (IAP) meeting yesterday, which was in conjuction with BioMalaysia 2009.

He said there were currently 17 companies from countries like the United States, Europe, Taiwan and South Korea that had invested in BioNexus companies.

A BioNexus status is similar to Multimedia Super Corridor-status where companies, local and international, qualify for government incentives such as grants and tax breaks.

Iskandar said: “We have built a network of 135 BioNexus companies accounting for RM1.51bil approved investment to-date since the launch of the National Biotechnology Policy.

“Spanning across agriculture, healthcare and industrial biptechnology sub-sectors, this network of BioNexus companies certainly underscored Malaysia’s aspiration to be a successful global biotechnology hub,” he said.

The National Biotechnology Policy that was launched in 2005 was aimed to promote the sector and establish the country as a global leader in the field.

BiotechCorp, the agency for biotechnology industry locally acts as a central contact point that provides support, facilitation and advisory services for biotech and life sciences companies locally.

The biotechnology IAP meeting was held in preparation for the commercialisation of the industry by 2011. It was chaired by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The IAP members consists of global experts representing institutions and multinational companies. Some of the dicussion outputs from the meeting included setting up of national innovation centre that would foster creativity among researchers in the country and explored the areas of high value clinical trials and diagnostics and set up the relevant eco-system especially the financial aspects.

Meanwhile, the three-day BioMalaysia 2009 will take place at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from today. The event is expected to attract more than 8,000 trade visitors from 40 countries and 100 exhibitors with the theme “Accelerating Commercialisation in Biotechnology”.

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