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AgBiotech & Medical
The Malaysian medical biotechnology industry will be given a boost as the certification of halal status of vaccines collaboration with 9BIO would help Malaysia gain leverage among other Islamic countries for its halal industry. The MoU outlining the collaboration will see 9BIO forming a team with Jakim to visit sites producing vaccines to certify its halal status. It is anticipated that the move may allow Malaysia to become a point of reference and research center for halal vaccine production in the future.
 
 
Two global medical patents were filed on the local herb Kacip Fatima with the Patent Cooperation Treaty recently, for liver protection and immune enhancement. The patents, filed by Holista Biotech Sdn. Bhd. was the culmination of research done in joint collaboration with the Indian Institute of Intergrative Medicine, Jammu, India and results were presented at the Women's Health and Asian Traditional Medicine Conference recently. After the filing of the patent rights, the company has to wait for two years before the approval. According to Holista, three more patents on the herb would be filed within the next three to six months, however details would not be released as of yet.
 

The Malaysian Pepper Board (MPB) has announced its collaboration with four universities in the research and development for the pepper industry, including University Malaysia Sarawak, University Putra Malaysia , Swineburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus and Curtin University of Technology Sarawak. The R&D plan, MPB hopes to explore pepper-based pharmaceuticals, sustainable agriculture practices etc.

Industry

Malaysia Steel Works (Masteel) took the country by surprise as it announced its involvement into the biotechnology sector last month, as at first glance the investment seems to be into a totally non-related sector. Under the manufacturing company, Bio Molecular Industries, the company will own and operate their own cyclotron , which will allow them to produce fluorodeoxyglucose, a diagnostic radiopharmaceutical product used in Positron Emission Tomography. Masteel plans to invest RM29 million into the venture and production is expected to commence in 2009.

 
   

Plans to build a biodiesel and an ethanol plant in Kuantan , Pahang would see Private-company Empee Sugar & Allied Industries Sdn Bhd (ESAI) spending up to RM220 million in construction costs. The RM63.7 million ethanol plant is slated to be completed by May next year, while the building of the biodiesel plant is anticipated to begin in the third quarter of next year and completed in 18 months.

State-run palm oil industrial cluster (POIC) in Lahan Datu is attracting up to 80 investors keen on purchasing property which may lead up to RM5 billion in earnings. The POIC which had experienced a slow development phase under the rise in crude palm oil prices is picking up its pace and is poised to be an anchor development when the Sabah Development Corridor is launched soon. So far, 101 ha out of the 323 ha has been bought and POIC is currently working on confirming the purchases of several interested parties.
 
Policy & Investment

Nanotechnology is anticipated to be a great mover-and-shaker in the biotechnology industry, as announced by Biotech Corp under their acquisition of the licence of a nanotechnology platform from a French company Nanobiotix. The acquisition move will mark the first of Biotech Corp's technology acquisitions since its incorporation in May 2005. This push has been further accentuated by the launch of the nanotechnology acquisition platform by Biotech Corp at BioMalaysia 2007 .

 
Similarly, Biotech Corp is teaming up with UniSel in research and development to attract more foreign direct investments. The R&D initiative hopes to attract major industry players in biocatalysts and enzymes, biofuels and biopolymers. Other than investigating new methods in production and improvements of enzymes for industrial applications and food production, the push will also see growth in the bio-manufacturing sector.
 
 
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi urged banks to include agriculture when extending loans to the small and medium-sized enterprises. Speaking after visiting the fertigation project under the Sutratani scheme in Telaga Papan, opined that agriculture can also be an enterprise like manufacturing, and loans could be given out to group farming schemes or individuals. With the government's promotion of agriculture, and by providing channels for landowners to secure loans for farming, problems of idle land can be overcome.