News at Home


News at Home

Industry
USM is slated to sign a collaboration agreement with Herbalscience Singapore Pte Ltd of Singapore to further develop biotechnology as a strong means of economic growth. The agreement will see the university providing the Singaporean company with information of natural products that has undergone analytical testing. Similarly, the university would be formulating natural extracts for enhanced bioavailability and targeted delivery as well as undergoing initial clinical testing for these products.

In other news, Golden Hope Plantations Bhd is aiming to be the major biotech supplier in the country as it hopes to secure one-fifth of the 2 million tonnes of palm-oil based biodiesel in the world market by 2008. Current biodiesel prices are at RM2.58 million per tonne, translating to RM1.03 billion in earnings for the company. Golden Hope has plans to build six biodiesel plants in and outside of Malaysia with at least a capacity of 40,000 tonnes.

On a similar note, a 20% revenue growth is expected for agricultural advisory firm, Applied Agricultural Resources Sdn. Bhd. (AAR) over the next decade from sales of cloned oil palm plantlets. The plantlets are high-yield oil palms cloned using tissue culture techniques to be propagated, and can deliver 20-25% higher oil extraction rate.

		In an effort to boost production capacity of the UTM chemical plant, RM4.5 million would be put out to expand the facility to go up to 10 times by March 2007. The current capacity of 5kg tocotrienol from palm oil per day is slated to hit 50kg by the first quarter of 2007. Current palm oil companies using the facilities include biodiesel giant Golden Hope and JC Chang’s Carotino.

Lastly, the Technopreneurs Association of Malaysia (TeAM) believed that Bioinformatics would be the point of convergence of ICT and biotechnology. At a TeAM forum on bioinformatics, forum members hear about the exciting possibilities that bioinformatics would give and the efforts the Government is currently giving to promote the sector. The half-day forum was organized by TeAM and officiated by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Policy
The strive to push biotechnology as a major area of development in the country is gaining great momentum as the Government announced the setting up of three centers of excellence as part of the BioNexus project that will see Malaysia competing with other countries in the fledging sector. Under the programme, University Putra Malaysia will serve as the center of excellence for agro-biotechnology, while University Kebangsaan Malaysia would be the center of excellence in molecular biology and genomics, BioValley on the other hand will serve as the center of excellence for pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals.

In other news, MOSTI has also announced greater benefits for research scientists as the Government is currently studying the royalty scheme in Europe and the US. With the ideal model chosen, the Ministry is expected to draft a Bill to table in Parliament to ensure scientists may benefit from their research. The move is also partly to increase the number of scientists in the country from 10 to every 10,000 people to 100:10,000 by 2020.

		On the other hand, the Indonesia Government has signed a pact with the Malaysian Government to set aside 40% of their respective crude palm oil in a year for biodiesel. The commitment of both governments is expected to provide biodiesel investors with assurance of adequate raw materials supply. This is a follow-up of Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister, Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui’s meeting with Indonesian Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono in Medan.

Investment & Trade
Malaysian Bio-Diagnostics Research Sdn Bhd, (MBDr) is planning its foray into the Bursa Malaysia at the end of March next year in a move to fund its expansion. Currently operating a 10,000 sq ft operations plant, the company intends on moving to a bigger plant to meet growing demands by next year. The company was able to record RM5.9 million in profit despite only having 10 product lines last year of which 30% is derived from the export market.

In other news, Hovid Bhd, a pharmaceutical company, has been outsourcing its ethical drug manufacturing to India, anticipating the increasing importance of its overseas operations. The diversified company currently manufactures 300 healthcare products of which 30 are ethical drugs in India. The move would allow the company to produce cheaper generic drugs and tap into new and developing markets.

	The Netherlands is keen of working with Malaysia to boost agriculture in both countries, according to Dutch ambassador to Malaysia Lody Embrechts. An agriculture office has been opened at the embassy in Kuala Lumpur and would see great inroads being open to exchange between the two countries. A similar office has been opened by the Malaysian embassy in the Netherlands earlier in the year.