Bernama.com (Malaysian National News Agency), 6 March, 2007

KBioCorp Gives State-Of-The-Art Boost to Local Herbal Industry

KULIM, March 6 (Bernama) -- The prevalent use of herbs in treatment and medication among the world's communities is a known fact since time immemorial though it may vary according to cultures and beliefs.

A study conducted by the Malaysian Herbal Corporation in 1999 made a remarkable discovery that the sales of herb-based products in Malaysia amounted to a staggering RM4.55 billion annually.

Form this total, RM2 billion were spent on herbal remedies, RM1.6 billion (scents) and RM0.95 billion (pharmaceutical and nutritional food).

The figures are good enough to convince anyone on the huge prospects and the big number of consumers who put their faith on herbal products. Yet more needs to be done by local herbal entrepreneurs to gain recognition and venture into global markets.

Recently Taiwan banned Malaysia's favourite tonic 'Kopi Tongkat Ali' because its contents are not scientifically justified.

HERBAL REMEDIES AN ALTERNATIVE FOR CONSUMERS

Herbal remedies today has become an important industry, providing an alternative for consumers and, more recently, has emerged as tourism industry attraction.

However, many of the local herbal products in the market, including the imported ones, fall short in many aspects especially in labeling and getting the approval from the Health Ministry.

"The labeling, complete with scientific breakdown of the product's ingredients, is important to facilitate its entry into the global market and to convince the consumers," said Kedah BioResources Corporation Sdn Bhd (KBiorCorp) managing director Norsabrina Mohd Noor.

KBioCorp, subsidiary of Kulim Technology Park Corporation (KTPC), owned by the Kedah State Economic Development Corporation, is situated at Kulim High Technology Park beside KTPC.

COMPANY TO HELP BUMIPUTERA

It was established three years ago after a study showed that the local herbal industry, especially those owned by Bumiputeras, are in need of assistance from state of the art laboratories if they want to stay ahead of competition.

The KBioCorp's lab, with 11 modern equipment worth RM11 million, conducts tests and studies on herbs apart from the daily utilised household items.

Norsabrina said the lab has eight experts including chemist, microbiologist and botanist and receives backing from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Penang and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in Serdang.

STATE OF THE ART EQUIPMENT

The lab boasts state of the art equipment. Among them is the GC-TOFMS (Gas Chromatography-Time Of Flight Mass Spectrometer) worth more than RM1 million with only two such equipment available in Malaysia. It is utilised to identify the chemical components and conduct purity test.

Another equipment, the Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR), which also cost more than RM1 million, conducts profiling on trees/plants and identifies prohibited components in the products.

The Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) method is used to trace the presence of heavy metals like lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic while the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is mostly used to conduct DNA and Steroid tests.

HTPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) looks for active therapeutic elements, while HPLC-MS (High Performance Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometer) looks for active elements in trees/plants and conducts profiling.

"The state of the art equipment are imported from the United States, Germany and Switzerland and has multiple uses but here their use has been for specific purpose," she said.

She further added that herbal products produced by extracting the components from plants are safer, of better quality and more efficacious compared to the ones processed into powder.

"This technology is yet to be adopted by Bumiputera entrepreneurs and this is where we can play a role.

PRODUCING SAFE PRODUCTS

"We also help in formulating safe products and those of quality complete with scientific labeling after the test is done on the substance," she added.

As the consumers of today are increasingly discerning, it is only wise that the contents of each capsule or a herbal product are listed similar to prescription medicine.

"Entrepreneurs produce many of their herbal remedies based on their experience or on formulas handed down from generation to generation without clearly documenting the contents and methodology," said Norsabrina.

KBioCorp accepts whatever herbs or product from companies or individuals to conduct studies. So far parties from Japan, Taiwan and United States have sought its expertise.

"We don't study the efficacy of the herbal products except analyse them in detail for the active and non-active components and the presence of dangerous ones like heavy metal," she said.

TEST CAN HELP ENTREPRENEURS

Each test conducted can assist producers to come up with safer and high quality products. The tests also help entrepreneurs itemise the contents which will convince consumers further.

The compulsory microbial test on all herbal products to ensure that they are free from bacterial contamination is also conducted by the lab.

KBioCorp provides 14 services, among others, quality control, purity test, heavy metal analysis, plant profile, toxicity test and microbial test.

It also conducts short-term training and courses.

Since its establishment, KBioCorp has trained 160 entrepreneurs in manufacturing and processing herbal-based products.

"KBioCorp's strength lies on analysis. We have signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Technology Park Malaysia Process Research Centre in Raub, Pahang which will undertake the processing," said Norsabrina.

Norsabrina said the lab had once conducted a test on a Taiwanese herbal product and found the that its mercury content was 100 times higher than the allowed limit.

THE LOCAL HERBAL PRODUCTS NEED TO ITEMISE CONTENT

A USM's pharmaceutical expert who was directly involved with the establishment of KBioCorp, Prof Zhari Ismail, 58, said the scientific justification for many of the local herbal products in the market was doubtful.

For example, a manufacturer had claimed that there was Tongkat Ali ingredient in his product but failed to furnish proof. That is why scientific justification is important so that consumers are not easily taken for a ride, he said.

It will be much easier for the local herbal products to penetrate the global market if a monograph report on the test it underwent is attached, highlighting its quality, efficacy and how far it is safe.

According to Zhari, the Tongkat Ali product from Malaysia successfully penetrated the stringent American and Japanese market as it fulfilled the standards and scientific attributes.

"Therefore there is no easy route for anyone to claim, without any justification, that their herbal product is efficacious. Maybe they can sell it in Malaysia but it can't be exported," he said.

-- BERNAMA