19th June, 2012
PARIS: French pharmaceutical company Sanofi, which is currently conducting global clinical trials for dengue vaccine including in Malaysia, wants to increase its presence in Malaysia through bilateral collaboration with Malaysia in healthcare.
Sanofi, which generates RM380mil revenue in Malaysia last year, is the fourth largest pharmaceutical company in the world and the largest vaccine producer.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili who led a ministerial delegation to a visit to the Sanofi headquarters here said the collaboration would spur more research and development (R&D) for healthcare vaccine development in Malaysia, including technology transfer and capacity building with involvement of local research institutions.
“The cooperation with a leading global pharmaceutical company like Sanofi will benefit us in enhancing our bio-pharma capabilities and readiness to cope with world health crisis such as epidemics and pandemics,” he said.
Dr Maximus had led a three-day official visit to France that ended Saturday (June 16) with a delegation comprising officials from the ministry and agency BiotechCorp including its CEO Dato’ Dr Mohd Nazlee Kamal.
The visit to key pharmaceutical and agro-industrial companies was to acquire strategic information on leading-edge technologies, establish collaborations and strategic partnerships in platform technology, commercialisation and R&D, as well as promote knowledge and technological transfer between France and Malaysia.
The delegationalso visited Sofiproteol – Novance Oilseed Biorefinery in Compiegne and the ARD Bazancourt-PomacleBiorefinery Complex in the Champagne-Ardenne Region – both under the French Industries and Agro-Resources (IAR) cluster.
The French biorefineries uses a model of integrated location and inter-dependency among the farmers, industrial companies, research centres and financial institutions for strategic synergies.
The ARD Bazancourt-PomacleBiorefinery Complex, which is the most integrated French biorefinery, covers sugar refinery, ethanol refinery, biomass cogeneration plant, bio-based succinic acid plant, R&D centres, cosmetics production facility and other installations.
President of the Champagne-Ardenne Region Jean-Paul Bachy, who also met the delegation, said he looked forward to greater cooperation between Malaysia and the region in the area of open innovation concept, which is being promoted by the ARD.
Dr Maximus responded that the French model had allowed France to evolve as a vital backbone to the bio-based industry in Europe, and Malaysia was keen to learn from the model to build its own bio-based chemical industry.
“A collaboration between the ministry, BiotechCorp and IAR will allow transfer of the needed technology and experiences to cater to the rapid development of Malaysia’s biorefinery hub, especially for Terengganu and Sabah,” he added.