In retrospect, 2009 was a year of strong performance for the Malaysian biotechnology industry. Cynics will protest that we cannot claim that. But why ever not, when tangible evidence-based results abound that testify to the same?

Leading the biotech industry performance is the contribution of 139 BioNexus companies, accountable for RM1.5 billion in total approved industry investment to date. By country, investment in BioNexus flows in from the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, India, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Taiwan.

By unaudited revenue, BioNexus companies expect to close 2009 above the RM600 million mark collectively. Within BioNexus, industrial biotech companies are top revenue earners, followed by healthcare, agriculture and bioinformatics. Even more significant, 60% of BioNexus revenue to date is contributed by export sales.

The crowning achievement is undoubtedly the collective market capitalisation of four listed BioNexus companies exceeding RM2.2 billion in 2009. BioNexus companies are listed not only on Bursa Malaysia but also on the London Stock Exchange and the Australian Stock Exchange. In fact, 2009 is also historic for the first successful takeover of an Australian biotech company by a Malaysian BioNexus company.

Such a performance commands an even bigger impact when viewed within the perspective that it took less than three years to achieve since the launch of BioNexus in 2006, while biotechnology is still considered nascent in its contribution to the national economy.

Even a most basic, most cursory comparison across technology and innovation sectors would reveal that it is more the norm to take at least a decade to nurture a company from start up to a billion ringgit capital strength.

In that space, BioNexus has unequivocally achieved the impact of breaking the sound barrier. If cynics continue to dispute that claim, then we certainly should apologise for the understatement.

BioNexus not only led in the building of the biotech business, which by global standards is still modest compared to the earnings of developed biotech markets of US and Europe, pre-crisis — it has also claimed leadership in the science of biotech.

In this respect, the achievement of BioNexus, even by global standards, is clear and it is significant. In 2008, a Malaysian BioNexus company became the first in the world to complete the assembly and annotation of the oil palm genome. The impact of that achievement was strengthened further in 2009 when Universiti Sains Malaysia assembled a team of local and international researchers to decode the first draft genome of the rubber tree. In the eyes of the world, the biotechnology industry has boldly and successfully staked a claim for Malaysia — equally significant in science and history — of our country’s legacy in the global economy.

For the Malaysian economy in 2009, the collective impact of the outstanding achievements in the biotechnology sector to date led to the Prime Minister’s announcement at BioMalaysia 2009 that biotechnology activities now contributes 2.2% of the national GDP. This closes the distance to the National Biotechnology Policy target of a 2.5% contribution from biotechnology activities to GDP by end-2010.

Biotech in 2010
In 2010, biotech is headed for that trendy but truthful statement — commercialise or die.
Please pardon the plain speaking. No different from other countries in the world, R&D and commercialisation of science, technology and biotechnology in Malaysia continue to face serious issues. Some issues became compounded over time. Some are country issues not specific to biotechnology — especially on the pace of human capital development and brain gain. Some issues have became as familiar as old friends to industry participants because these remain year after year.

If 2010 is the transformation year that takes Malaysian biotechnology from building capacity to commercialisation, then some very courageous conversations need to happen followed by quick review and remedial actions.
Countries — whether in Europe or Asia — which have successfully turned around its R&D and commercialisation challenge into competitive strength ruthlessly deconstruct policy and bureaucracy, implement effective funding and venture capital options, ensures clear passage across technology transfer mechanisms and measures success through patents and licensing.

Ahead of 2010, a key effort to track is the Global Bridge: Malaysia Commercialisation Assistance Programme for Science to Business by BiotechCorp and the Larta Institute. A dozen high impact projects by Malaysian researchers, with potential global significance, have been selected for mentorship and commercialisation.

Initiatives in 2010 will also shape the focus of Malaysian biotechnology going into commercialisation. The country’s sustainable biomass feedstock, coupled with the government’s focus on green and renewable technologies provides a strategic advantage for Malaysia to take a leadership role in industrial biotechnology. The Bio-XCell, a BiotechCorp and UEM Land Bhd partnership project is on track in building an ecosystem for the global industrial biotechnology to converge in Malaysia.

Tangible evidence-based results will continue to spur momentum towards achieving these commercialisation phase objectives.

Datuk Iskandar Mizal Mahmood is the CEO of BiotechCorp

This article appeared in netv@lue2.0, the technology section of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 787 Dec 28 - Jan 10 2010