Materia Medica Malaysiana

Malaysia goes into vaccine research: Chua
From the Daily Express

Kuala Lumpur: A multi-million ringgit research centre to produce vaccines will be set up to prepare the country against microbe attacks or bio-terrorism.

Health Minister Datuk Chua Jui Meng said the country needed to rely on locally produced vaccines to protect the people from such threats.

“When are we going to be attacked? Maybe not for many years, maybe next year...the same with bio-terrorism. It is a global threat.

“We must be prepared for any microbe attack whether disturbances through the eco-system or bio-terrorism,” Chua told reporters after a briefing on the National Institute for Natural Products and Vaccinology (NINPV) at his office here.

He said Malaysia was currently a net importer of vaccines, a risky position especially in a volatile economic situation.

“To depend entirely on imported vaccines means to allocate vast funds for controlling infectious diseases...serious implications in times of geopolitical emergencies as multinationals will reduce production of vaccines, rendering new born babies unprotected,” Chua said.

He said Malaysia needed to be independent and to establish its own research centre to produce vaccines especially those that were vital to prevent child mortality.

The lack of vaccines would lead to rampant spread of preventable infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, hepatitis B and measles, which could have an adverse affect on community health and the economy, he said.

Chua said the vaccine unit of the Institute for Medical Research (IMR) produced a range of vaccines for diseases, ranging from smallpox, rabies, cholera and typhoid for 24 years before it was closed down on the recommendation of a foreign consultant.

He said at present there were no concerted efforts to produce vaccines in the country nor was there a national blue print for the industry.

The NINPV, to be located in the bio-valley within the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), would be a research and development (R&D) hub for herbal medicines and selected vaccines, while production would be carried out by the private sector.

NINPV estimated expenditure is RM220 million over a five-year period, both for natural and vaccine research.

The annual operations cost would be about RM5 million. - Bernama