Source: The News Straits Times Online.
Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (NR)
Udupi, Dec 23: Malaysia is the country chosen by the famous Manipal group to develop as a hub for stem cell research and therapy. Once upon a time stem cell therapy was a type of treatment affordable only by the rich, but now very soon it will be affordable and readily available to all.
B.N. Manohar president of the Stempeutics Research informed that stem cell therapy provided treatment for various incurable diseases and the company's aim was to make it as affordable and easily available as possible.
Stempeutics Research, which is part of the India-based Manipal education and medical group, became the first foreign company to set up a stem cell research and therapy centre here.
Stempeutics Research Malaysia Sdn Bhd will promote stem cell activity locally and focus on cutting edge research, therapeutics and therapy in the field of regenerative medicine.
The Manipal group would be investing about RM30 million in the next three to four years on the centre to be located at the Technology Park Malaysia in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, stated Manohar.
According to him with the Stempeutics world-class stem lab expected to be completed soon, it is committed to developing and delivering safe and effective stem cell therapies for diseases for which there has been no cure found so far. And their aim, he informed is to develop an autologous (a transfusion or transplant utilizing the patient's own blood, bone marrow or tissue) stem cell therapy from adult stem cells derived from the bone marrow for several incurable diseases.
In future, Manohar said Stempeutics had plans to develop allogeneic (taken from different individuals of the same species) stem cell therapy so as to make it more affordable, readily available and for use in critical conditions.
The Stempeutics research centre in Malaysia is designed to meet the accreditation requirements of the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) and to comply with the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) current Good Manufacturing Practices and Good Tissue Practices. According to Manohar the centre will also be in compliance with other state and national regulatory licensing requirements and it would work closely with the health ministry and conduct all research and therapy according to its guidelines, he added.
On his part Sdn Bhd, Datuk Iskandar Mizal Mahmood, the CEO of Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation declared that he was pleased with the Manipal group's commitment to develop Malaysia as a stem cell research and therapy hub. He opined that this commitment would help to build a strong human resource foundation for his country for all the stem cell industry and research institutes.
The CEO even stated that Stempeutics would focus on Continuing Medical Education (CME) programmes on latest developments in stem cell research and also conduct formal long-term courses in regenerative medicine in collaboration with local universities.
According to him independent studies had identified Malaysia as a market with potential in stem cell research and therapy with an estimated US$157 million (RM530 million) a year growth. Therefore he averred "Malaysia can look forward to foreign direct investments this venture is going to promote as well as an increase in the number of jobs created."
Iskandar Mizal even stated that Stempeutics would be among the first few outfits under an international company to be conferred the BioNexus status - an exclusive status for biotechnology firms that comes with a set of incentives and benefits, as well as its own Bill of Guarantees.