Johor, 31 October 2011– As Malaysia improves its competitiveness in Ease of Doing Business, the outlook for foreign investment in the biotechnology sector is looking positive.
“Apart from the physical infrastructure and incentives we have put in place for biotechnology, the broader hard and soft infrastructure enabled by the Government and its various agencies have successfully pushed Malaysia’s competitiveness ranking in Easy of Doing Business to 18th position out of 183 economies. This augurs well for foreign investments in biotechnology, said Rizatuddin Ramli, Chief Executive Officer of Malaysian Bio-XCell Sdn Bhd. (Bio-XCell).
In the ‘Doing Business 2012’ report published by the World Bank, Malaysia climbed five positions to be in 18th place amongst 183 economies of the world for ease of doing business. The countries are accessed in 10 topic rankings. “Malaysia showed marked improvement in key areas. Malaysia moved up 61 positions from 111 to 50 in ‘Starting a Business’ and climbed 29 positions from 60 to 31 for ‘Enforcing Contracts’. These are small but significant factors in boosting investor confidence in our economy. The provision of incentives does go a long way in the competition for foreign investment in the region, but it’s the quality services, access to resources and efficient enforcement that wins the game,” Rizatuddin said at a media briefing in Nusajaya, Iskandar, Johor.
Bio-XCell has invested almost RM450 million to date on the infrastructure and construction of the biotechnology park, which will be developed in three phases across six years.
“Our aim is to build a conducive biotech park with comprehensive infrastructure, utilities and facilities to support the industrial and healthcare biotechnology companies in biomanufacturing and bioprocessing. Our development thus far is on track. We should see the completion of key components of the park by Q3 next year – this includes four units of standard manufacturing plants, the Central Utilities Facility which will cater to the provision of steam, chilled water and waste water management and the Central Hub which will house our shared facilities like labs, incubators, offices, training and conference facilities, administration centre and retail outlets.
Bio-XCell is a managed park. The Central Hub of the park is designed to comply with criteria set under Malaysia’s Green Building Index (GBI) that promotes green design, construction and operations of buildings.
Since its global launch in May 2010, Bio-XCell has secured four Clients; Biocon and Agila Specialties are leading biopharmaceutical companies from India, Metabolic Explorer from France and Glycos Biotechnologies from the United States of America are prominent industrial biotechnology players which will use proprietary platform technologies in their bio process and manufacturing activities. These companies will be operational in Bio-XCell from Q3, 2012 to Q4, 2014.
“Our Clients are bringing with them significant innovation and intellectual property in biotechnology. We can expect transfer of knowledge and development of specialised skills for the local talent pool,” Rizatuddin said.
On initiatives moving forward, Rizatuddin said that Bio-XCell will focus on strengthening the service delivery of the park and the ecosystem planned. “Besides foreign direct investment, industry collaboration will maximize value creation in biotechnology. We hope to establish formal collaborative framework with universities, research institutes, both public and private, healthcare institutions, government and state agencies in enhancing and strengthening our service delivery to Clients and industry.
“Bio-XCell will strive to be an effective platform for commercialisation in biotechnology, in meeting the objectives of Phase 2 of the National Biotechnology Policy – the Science to Business phase. Our initiatives are also working towards Phase three - building and establishing global businesses in biotechnology,” Rizatuddin said.
About Bio-XCell
Bio-XCell is a biotechnology ecosystem for industrial and healthcare biotechnology, with a focus on manufacturing and R&D. Developed by Malaysian Bio-XCell Sdn Bhd, a joint venture company between BiotechCorp and UEM Land, the park is slanted to be the new regional biotech hub of Asia. Capitalising on value propositions of both its shareholders, Bio-XCell provides comprehensive infrastructure, services, incentives and benefits to drive the growth for the biotechnology sector.
Strategically located in Nusajaya, Iskandar Malaysia, the resource-rich state of Johor, Bio-XCell provides global connectivity through the network of five seaports and two international airports, all within 59kms. For information or leasing inquiries, log on to www.bio-xcell.com
For media inquiries, kindly contact:
Anita Daud Charles
Head, Corporate Communications
Tel : +603 2116 8508
Email : anita.daud@bio-xcell.com
