Business
Times, NST, February 17, 2008
Malaysia to roll out
nanotech product by Q3
By Zaidi Isham Ismail
The nanotechnology product is
healthcare-related and is mainly for the export
market, says BiotechCorp chief executive officer
MALAYSIA, which aspires to become one of the world's
biotechnology hubs, is set to commercialise its
maiden and home-grown nanotechnology-based product
by the third quarter of this year.
The rollout is part of the country's efforts to grab
a slice of the world's nanotechnology market, which
is estimated to be worth some US$1 trillion (RM3.22
trillion) by 2010.
Malaysian Biotechnology Corp Sdn Bhd (BiotechCorp)
chief executive officer Datuk Iskandar Mizal Mahmood
said the product will be the first of two
nanotechnology products it will introduce this year.
 "The nanotechnology product is healthcare-related
and is ready for commercialisation for any Malaysian
biotechnology company. It is mainly for the export
market.
"We will work out the mechanism with the takers
later such as licensing and intellectual property
rights," Iskandar said in Kuala Lumpur.
Nanotechnology is the science of using small
materials invisible to the naked eye measuring as
minute as one nanometre (one billionth of a metre)
into a wide range of other applications such as in
the industrial, food, agriculture, cosmetics,
textile, medical science and other sectors.
Present since the 1970s, nanotechnology can be used
to repair damaged body tissues, destroy cancer
cells, keep clothes stain free, long-lasting car
polish, prolong shelf life of food products, make
laser printers and medical imaging equipment and
pesticides.
Iskandar said the initiative started in December
last year during BioMalaysia 2007, when BiotechCorp
bought the exclusive worldwide licence of a
nanotechnology platform from French biotechnology
company Nanobiotix.
It was the first technology acquisition made by
BiotechCorp, which is the government's
biotechnology watchdog and monitoring agency since
its incorporation in May 2005 as one of the action
plans under the National Biotechnology Policy.
Iskandar said the two rollouts are part of a minimum
eight nanotechnology projects it plans to get into
the market by 2011.
"We are now taking nanotechnology to another level
to create a multiplier effect and spur growth of
biotechnology companies and trickle down to related
industries and the economy," he added.
Iskandar said Nanobiotix also owns 14 nanotechnolgy
applications in healthcare, environmental and
agricultural applications (five) and food and
cosmetic applications (four), which are obtainable
from Nanobiotix's current products, meaning no
further research and development is required.
The direct applications in healthcare include
cardiovascular therapeutics, eyesight therapeutics,
blood clotting agents, wound and burn repair, and
protein purification.
The direct applications in food and cosmetics
include retaining flavour and solar protection. |
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