Snapshot of Malaysian Biotechnology

With highly skilled staff, world class-technologies, reliable infrastructure, good regulatory policies, low costs, government and private sector innovation and an abundance of competitively priced raw materials in agriculture, Malaysian is one of the most attractive locations for global biotechnology investment. International free trade has been a top priority for many Asian countries since early 2000. The number of significant international investments in the Asian biotechnology sector has doubled in the past few years. The incidence of niche partnerships for drug developments and agricultural trade has increased, particularly with the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand companies. These major markets are looking more and more to Malaysia as a genuine source of innovation to achieve their business objectives for the development of global biotechnology products and outsourcing of their technology and product development. The Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) countries has been working on a free trade to create a consistent, predictable production base across the region to attract foreign investment.