Herbal Company Seeks RM100 Mln Grant To Develop Medicine For AIDS

JOHOR BAHARU, Oct 6 (Bernama) -- Nasuha Enterprise Sdn Bhd, a local herbal company which has identified several types of herbal plants that can treat AIDS patients, is seeking a RM100 million government grant to continue research and development on the plants.
Its managing director, Nasuha Kasian said more detailed R&D to study the medicinal contents of the tropical forest plants could not be continued because of the high cost which could touch RM100 million.
"We have identified several other types of tropical forest plants that could cure AIDS, but we don't have the means to continue scientific research on them because of the exhorbitant cost," he told Bernama.
Nasuha hoped the government could approve the RM100 million grant and the company was prepared to continue the R&D with the collaboration of local and foreign universities.
Nasuha Enterprise has a 1,280-hectare estate cultivated with herbal plants and spices in Pagoh, Muar comprising more than 133 species of plants.
Nasuha Enterprise started research on the medicinal contents of herbal plants for the past 27 years.
Nasuha said scientific studies on the plants, which he declined to name for certain reasons, were carried out with the assistance of several experts from a neighbouring country.
He said that besides studying plants that could cure AIDS, the company had also conducted research on the "Citroblanters" plants together with the Food Division of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).
The outcome of the research showed that extracts from the tree had the capacity to stop the spread of cancer cells, he said.
However, he said R&D on the medicinal contents of the tree could not be continued because it would incur an additional cost of RM4 million.
"What we need is a grant from the government because R&D requires a lot of expenses," he said.
He said several international companies from China and the United Kingdom had shown interest in offering financial assistance to develop the products based on the outcome of the research on a joint-venture basis.
"I fear that if I accept such offers hastily, other countries would benefit from the 20 years of hard work put in by my company," Nasuha said.