Malaysia offers millions for biotechnology research

Star KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia on Thursday opened a modern facility to make medicines using biotechnology, and offered millions of dollars (euros) to promote research.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi officiated the opening of a 200 million ringgit (US$56 million; euro44 million) complex in the Nilai industrial district, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) south of Kuala Lumpur.
The plant is part of the government's efforts to become a regional biotechnology hub - competing in a sector which is currently dominated by Europe and the United States.
Abdullah also launched a 720 million ringgit (US$200 million; euro156 million) fund to help firms conduct new initiatives in wide-ranging biotechnology fields such as health care, agriculture and industrial production.
The fund will provide grants and loans to new companies, especially those that require complicated patent registration and approval procedures to break into the international market.
Biotechnology refers to the use of living organisms or cellular matter including DNA to manufacture organic products like beer and dairy products as well as medicines such as insulin or antibiotics.
Biotechnology can also be used in agriculture, for example in designing plants to make them grow under specific environmental conditions, and in industries to produce useful chemicals cheaply through designer organisms.
The new plant will be operated by Inno Biologics, a government-owned company involved in medical biotechnology, a relatively young sector that the government has aggressively promoted over the past two years through a string of tax incentives and infrastructure support.
Malaysia has an estimated 100 biotech firms in a sector that the government hopes will constitute 5 percent of gross domestic product by 2020.
One of Malaysia's biotech priorities is bio-diesel, touted as a cheap gasoline substitute.
Malaysia is the world's main producer of palm oil, which can be used as a main ingredient of bio-diesel. - AP