Malaysian
Reserve, 22 February 2008
BiotechCorp woos South
Korean firms with nanotech
The company aims to have BioNexus status
companies from S. Korea companies from South Korea
operating locally by year end.
BY KHAIROL SHAFIZAN
STATE OWNED Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation (BiotechCorp)
sees its recently acquired licence for a
nanotechnology platform as an incentive to attract
South Korean firms to invest in Malaysia and opt for
a BioNexus Status. BiotechCorp secured the licence
late last year from Nanobiotix of France which has
developed nanotechnology particles for cancer
therapy.
Nanobiotix has agreed to licence the application of
its nanotechnology platform for non cancer purposes
to BiotechCorp.
Its CEO Datuk Iskandar Mizal Mahmood said it is the
company’s aspiration to have BioNexus status South
Korean companies operating in Malaysia by the end of
the year.
Currently there are 42 companies with BioNexus
status with approved investments of some RM1
billion.
The BioNexus status companies ranges from medical
diagnostics, genome sequencing environment
bio-products and bio informatics. The status gives
them tax break and exemption privileges when
operating in Malaysia.
“Malaysia’s key competitiveness is in its
biodiversity and human capital, while South Korea is
its capital and bio materials,” Iskandar told
reporters in Kuala Lumpur after the opening of the
Malaysia South Korea BioBusiness Partnering Event
yesterday.
Iskandar said the South Korean government has
allocated US 900 million (RM2.89billion) for the
development of the biotechnology sector and the
market volume for the industry is forecasted to
reach US 6.5 billion by 2010.
Currently, there are 800 biotech companies in South
Korea with 42 of them listed on the country’s stock
exchange. BiotechCorp is an agency under the purview
of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation
and is wholly owned by the Ministry of Finance
Incorporated.
It is governed by the Biotechnology Implementation
Council and advised by the Biotechnology
International Advisory Panel, both chaired by Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
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