Malaysia to showcase its strong value chain in biotechnology advancing the country into a prime global hub for biopharma and biomedical tech investments in the ASEAN region at the annual BIO international Convention 2015 (BIO) June 15-18

15 June 2015, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Through its 11th participation in the BIO International Convention 2015, Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation (BiotechCorp), Malaysia’s lead agency in implementing the industry development for biotechnology, aims to assert Malaysia’s strategic position in the international arena as a strategic partner to access the highly dynamic market.

With over 600 million population and pharmaceutical market demand of USD21.3 billion in 2014, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is poised to be the next economic powerhouse of Asia.

Efforts such as the ASEAN Harmonization, which creates common standards in regulating the import and export of products across 10 member countries, magnifies the region’s highly dynamic market. In 2014, all 10 ASEAN member countries adopted the ASEAN Common Submission Dossier Template (CSDT) for Medical Devices, providing regulatory clarity for businesses, to register their products in ASEAN.

As the Chair of ASEAN in 2015, Malaysia is in a strong position to showcase the country’s unique value propositions as the gateway to ASEAN for investments and businesses at the premier convention.

With a strong presence of 80 participants in the Malaysian delegation hailing from the federal ministries, state governments and government agencies, funding institutions and industry players, Malaysia is geared to showcase new offerings to global partners in the biomedical sector, including OECD GLP accredited services, world class infrastructure, and innovative healthcare products to complement its existing strong regulatory and intellectual property regime. The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) and Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) for investments and trade, are among the various government agencies in attendance to showcase their strong support for biotechnology enterprises.

“MOSTI is committed to providing the necessary assistance and facilitation to push Malaysia’s bioeconomy agenda and to keep the country competitive, innovative and prosperous. We want Malaysia to be the gateway for ASEAN market and to create a supportive, holistic and integrated environment for bioeconomy to flourish in the region,” said Deputy Secretary General (Science) of the Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation (MOSTI), Dr. Zulkifli bin Mohamed Hashim.

The opening ceremony of the Malaysian Pavilion, on 16th June 2015, will begin with several announcements and exchange of documents highlighting the value propositions of Malaysia’s innovative biomedical industry. This is followed by the launch of the Biotechnology Entrepreneurship Special Training (BeST) in USA, targeted to attract Malaysian graduates to enrich the current talent pool in Malaysia. Under the Bioeconomy Accelerator Programme, BiotechCorp partnered with Larta Institute in Los Angeles to mentor Malaysian companies in bringing their products to USA and establish strategic partnerships to increase their product value.

“Malaysia has been actively developing a comprehensive value chain for the Biopharma and Biomedical technology subsectors. Areas such as human capital development and cutting down of bureaucracy are tackled progressively. Existing strengths such as an established infrastructure as well as regulatory and intellectual property regimes have continuously been strengthened. All these efforts have resulted in attracting significant industry players to our shores,” said BiotechCorp’s Chief Operating Officer, Razwin Sulairee Hasnan Termizi at the Malaysia Networking Tuesday dinner on 16th June 2015. To date, Malaysia has successfully attracted investments from Biopharma and Biomedical Tech players such Abbott Laboratories, Biocon, Fresenius Medical Care and Haemonetics. This trend clearly acknowledges Malaysia’s position as a hidden gem for organizations looking at a viable launch pad into ASEAN, Asia and the world at large.

On the regulatory front, Malaysia has been a member of the Pharmaceutical Inspection Cooperation Scheme (PIC/S) for more than 10 years ahead of most Asian countries and even the United States. World Bank has ranked Malaysia 4th in the world for protection of Investors and rose to 20th place in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2014/2015 ranking.

BiotechCorp plays a key role to grow the bio-based industry in the region by offering attractive tax incentives for companies that qualify under the BioNexus status, awarded to qualified international and Malaysian biotechnology companies. With the aim to assist biotechnology companies in the U.S. that are looking at a regional hub in South East Asia, Malaysia opened its first BiotechCorp office in San Francisco on 12 June 2015.