The Edge Financial Daily, June 19, 2008
BiotechCorp in talks
for crop yield tech platform
SAN DIEGO (California): Malaysian Biotechnology
Corporation Sdn Bhd (BiotechCorp) is close to
acquiring a technology platform that will help
significantly boost yield of crops including paddy.
“We’re having a serious discussion with a company
later today about acquiring the technology. With
molecular assisted selection, you will be able to
find the right marker in the gene that would mean
higher yield, better resistance to insects, increase
in yield in paddy.
“Imagine getting the yield that’s twice the national
average,” BiotechCorp chief executive officer Datuk
Iskandar Mizal Mahmood said on the sidelines of the
BIO International Convention 2008 (BIO 2008) here on
Tuesday.
Sarawak, which has been identified to be another
“rice bowl” state, would benefit from such a
technology, Iskandar said, adding that the
technology could be used to maximise production of
other types of crops.
The discussions, however, may not immediately result
in the acquisition of the technology, but a deal may
mean that Malaysia would be able to plant the Thai
strain of fragrant rice. It is understood that
Malaysia has not been able to successfully plant
that strain of paddy due to pest issues.
BiotechCorp has said more acquisitions of strategic
biotech platforms could be announced by year-end.
The deal, if closed, would be the second of such
acquisitions.
BiotechCorp announced the acquisition of its first
platform — an exclusive worldwide licence in
nanotechnology platform for non-cancer purposes from
France-based Nanobiotix — at BioMalaysia 2007 in
November last year. BioMalaysia 2008 is scheduled
for October this year.
Iskandar also said biotechnology was very relevant
to people residing in rural areas.
“Biotechnology is not just the domain of the elite
as a whole lot of people think. It is also not only
for the researchers and the entrepreneurs. Some 30%
of the drugs in the world today cannot be
synthesised (meaning they have to be planted).
“Imagine what that will do if people in the rural
areas can be brought in (as part of the equation),”
he said.
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