Bernama.com (Malaysian National News Agency), September 06, 2006 19:44 PM

Malaysia's Biotechnology Pioneer Fund Of US$200 Mln Highest In Asia

NILAI, Sept 6 (Bernama) -- The government will be allocating the highest biotechnology pioneer fund in Asia totalling US$200 million to develop the country's biotechnology industry.

Chief executive officer of Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation Sdn Bhd, Iskandar Mizal Mahmood said that with the establishment of the fund, the country would be marking a new level in the field where products from research and development efforts would be taken to the market.

He said the fund would be managed by Malaysian Technology Development Corporation Sdn Bhd together with venture capital company Burrill & Co, which has its headquarters in San Francisco, US.

All this while there have been laments from industry members and researchers that they have all the products but are not able to take them to the market, he said.

"And it is true that there was no funding infrastructure as at that point," Iskandar Mizal told reporters here Wednesday.

He said the government had been funding research and development efforts so far.

To bring the R&D products to the market, the role played by the pioneering party is of utmost importance and this can be seen in the models used in the US and Europe, he said.

"They are the ones who take the initiative to search for researched and developed products from universities to bring them into the market," he said.

He said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will be chairing the first meeting of the Malaysian Biotechnology Implementation Council Thursday.

The meeting is expected to consider various issues in terms of implementation and the launch of several initiatives including the pioneer fund.

Iskandar Mizal said the prime minister would be also launching Malaysia's first cGMP or current Good Manufacturing Practices facility for biopharmaceuticals manufacturing and Inno Biologics biomanufacturing complex here Thursday.

Incorporated in March 2002, Inno Biologics Sdn Bhd is the flagship company of Inno Bio Ventures Sdn Bhd.

Inno Bio Ventures is a Ministry of Finance Incorporated company, and partly owned by the Malaysian Industry Group of High Technology (MIGHT).

Inno Biologics is a contract manufacturer organisation, specialising in biomanufacturing of mammalian cell culture-based biopharmaceuticals.

-- BERNAMA