PUTRAJAYA, April 28 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah AhmadBadawi, Thursday witnessed nine exchange of agreements and memorandum ofunderstanding (MoU) signings, which will boost Malaysia's biotechnologyindustry.

The ceremony was held in conjunction with the official launching of theNational Biotechnology Policy and BioMalaysia 2005 conference here, wherethe Prime Minister announced the setting up of the Malaysian BiotechnologyCorporation (MBC), a dedicated and professional one-stop agency entrustedwith developing the country's biotechnology industry.

The first MoU saw Inno Bio Ventures Sdn Bhd and TephA Inc teaming up tomanufacture medical grade bioplastics in "current Good ManufacturingPractices" (cGMP) biomanufacturing plant. TephA is the technology providerwhile Inno Bio will carry out the cGMP manufacturing process andbioplastic supplier.

The second agreement was between Bioven Holdings Sdn Bhd and Heber Biotechappointed Sumber Nadi Alam, Langkawi (SNA) and S.Sakrin (Thailand) astheir hatchery partners for the Malaysian and South Thailand market.

Biohaven and Heber are performing field trials with SNA and S.Sakrin forthe commercialisation of Acuabio 1, a growth stimulator agent to improvethe survival and homogeneity for larvae and shrimp.

Initial results indicated that the productivity could be increased by 100percent for both hatchery and shrimp industries.

Next was the exchange of documents between Malaysia Bio-DiagnosticsResearch Sdn Bhd (MBDr), a leading local provider and manufacturer ofmedical diagnostics products, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) andUniversiti Malaya (UM), which will solidify strategic partnership betweenMBDr and the two prominent universities.

The collaborative effort entails the technology transfer for thedevelopment and commercialisation of diagnostics products.

Meanwhile, the MoU entered between MIT-Malaysia Biopolymer and SIRIM Bhdwill see the two parties working towards a mutually beneficial technicalcollaboration in the development of biodegradable plastics.

Sirim represented the government and universities namely UM, USM,Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB).

The fifth exchange of documents was between Delphax Sdn Bhd, HospitalUniversiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM) and Hospital Univesiti KebangsaanMalaysia (HUKM).

Delphax, a global distributor for an extensive range of high qualityorthopaedic instruments and devices received about RM3 million grant fromthe Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation to design and develop acost effective spinal fixation device of international quality.

Efforts by leading orthopaedic surgeons from HUKM and HUSM had resulted inthe conceptualisation of the first prototype.

The MoU between Stevian Biotechnology Corporation Sdn Bhd and MercurySparks Limited marked the transfer of biotech intellectual property rightsby Mercury to Stevian covering patents, collection of micro organisms,technology and engineering know-how.

The intellectual property transfer valued independently at RM250 millionwill enable Stevian to undertake projects and develop new products relatedto the areas of applied industrial biotechnology, applied chemicalsynthesis and pharmacology, biomass or green technology.

The agreement entered between Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) and MalaysianIndustry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) will work oncapacity building for agro-biotechnology sector for the development ofBumiputera technopreneurship in agriculture.

MARA and MIGHT will develop training programme to acquire skills andknowledge on the commercial productions of herbs through theoreticalcourses and industrial training.

Homegrown bioscience company, INS Bioscience, on the other hand, exchangedunderwriting and placement agreements with its advisor, placement agent,underwriter and sponsor, OSK Securities Bhd for its floatation at theevent.

The last MoU signed was between Stanford University and Interim LaboratoryMalaysia Genome Institute, formed by the government to spearhead researchand development on bio resources, targeted at development of industrialbiotechnology.

The institute will carry collaborative genome projects involvingresearchers from local and international research institutes.

-- BERNAMA