The Star, June 19, 2008
A shot in the arm for
biotech
Six projects worth RM1 bil
By FOO YEE PING (yeeping@thestar.com.my)
SAN DIEGO: Malaysia is expected to reap RM1 bil in
investments in the next three years following the
signing of six agreements on biotechnology projects.
The deals will involve cooperation with companies
from the US, Italy, India, France and South Korea
involved in healthcare, agriculture and industrial
biotechnology.
“It is all about collaboration and stepping up our
cooperation with the others,” said Malaysian
Biotechnology Corp (BiotechCorp) chief executive
officer Datuk Iskandar Mizal Mahmood.
BiotechCorp is involved in two agreements – with
Trusgen and Insect Biotech respectively.
Other deals are between ABCAR Asia and ABCAR France;
between Success Nexus Sdn Bhd and Merloni Progretti;
between Budi Biofuels and PureVision Technology; and
between Malacca Biotech, Vanguard Creative
Technologies and Vivo Biotech.
The agreements would be sealed at the four-day 2008
Bio International Convention here which has
attracted over 20,000 participations from 70
countries.
Iskandar said the benefits from the deals would flow
to areas such as human capital.
It would help reinforce BiotechCorp’s key priorities
such as intensifying technology acquisitions and
value creation in building up biotechnology
businesses, Iskandar told Malaysian reporters at the
sidelines of the convention on Tuesday.
He also said BiotechCorp was expecting the number of
BioNexus status companies to grow to 120 by year-end
from the current 63.
“One of our key concerns is to ensure that we will
not compromise on the quality,” he added.
Set up in 2005, BiotechCorp is Malaysia’s lead
agency for the biotech industry in the country.
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