BIOTECH PARK GETS MORE FOREIGN INVESTORS

WASHINGTON, June 29 (Bernama) -- One of India's leading pharmaceutical
producers, Strides Arcolabs Ltd, became the latest company to invest in
Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation’s (BiotechCorp) premier biotechnology park
in Iskandar Malaysia.

The company will set up a customised manufacturing facility to produce
biopharmaceuticals and sterile injectables for the global market.

Its Malaysian subsidiary, Agila Specialities Sdn Bhd, will pump in about
US$40 million to US$60 million to establish the facility at the biotechnology
park run by BiotechCorp’s investment arm, Bio-XCell Sdn Bhd.

Agila joins another Indian biopharma company, Biocon, Metabolic Explorer of
France and Glycos Biotechnologies of the US as the early entrants into the
Bio-XCell ecosystem.

To mark the venture, a brief ceremony, witnessed by Deputy Prime Minister
Muhyiddin Yassin, was held for both companies to exchange agreements for
the setting up of the facility at the Walter E. Washington Convention Centre
here.

The exchanges were made between Adam A. Levitt, the chief executive officer
(CEO) of Strides Arcolabs for North America, and CEO of Bio-XCell Raja Ridzwa
Raja Abdul Aziz after Muhyiddin officially opened Bio-XCell exhibition booth at
the Bio International Convention 2011 (BIO DC 2011).

Earlier, Muhyiddin was given the honour to officiate the BIO DC 2011, the
first ever given to a foreign leader, alongside Maryland Governor Martin
O’Malley and BIO President and Chief Executive Officer James Greenwood.

Muhyiddin also witnessed the exchanges of memoranda of collaboration between
Bio-XCell and MOX-Linde Gases Sdn Bhd, a leading industrial gas supplier in
Malaysia, and between Pristine Oil Sdn Bhd, an energy trading company, and a
Norwegian fish meal company, BioProtein AS.

Lestari Pasifik Sdn Bhd, the absolute licensee of a patented technology on a
method of pre-treatment of oil palm empty fruit bunch for Asean, also exchanged
technology-licensing agreements with a UK company, Arter Biofuel Products Ltd.

In a separate interview, Levitt of Strides Arcolabs said Malaysia was chosen
for its new facility as the country had a very good strategic location to expand
its manufacturing operations.

"The attractive financial incentives by the Malaysian government and the
presence of a pharma and biotech ecosystem were the catalysts to our decision,"
he added.

He said the company had to look for a new place outside India as its
manufacturing facility there had run out of capacity, and the country was no
longer attractive as the cost of doing business had gone up.

The construction of the facility in Iskandar Malaysia will begin this year
and it is expected to be operational by 2013.

Meanwhile, Wong Siew Yap, the managing director of MOX-Linde, said the
company would invest RM5 million (US$1.66 million) the first phase of the
project to install the supply infrastructure and facilities required to support
the industrial and specialty gas needs of the biotechnology companies operating
within the Bio-XCell ecosystem.

He said the company expected to invest up to RM30 million (US$10 million) in
the project as more biotechnology players were attracted to set up operations in
the near to medium term.

Under the terms of the memorandum of collaboration, MOX-Linde will assist
Bio-XCell in jointly promoting and marketing the biotechnology ecosystem project
and assessing the industrial and specialty gas requirements of Bio-XCell’s
technology clients.

The tie-up between Pristine Oil and BioProtein AS will see both parties
collaborate on a project to establish a manufacturing plant in Malaysia for the
production of bioprotein utilising a patented technology to replace the
conventional fish meal production.

BioProtein AS’ consultant Dr Bart Johansen said the company was looking
either at Bintulu or Melaka to site the plant, which is expected to be
operational by 2014.
-- BERNAMA