Centre for Drug Research

The Study & its Objectives

The Project: The project is related to positioning the biopharmaceutical industry of the northern region in the future. In 2005, MOSTI approved a budget to the state government for it to undertake a study to develop a strategic roadmap for the Development of Marine Biotechnology & Biopharmaceutical Research & Industry for the nation. In December 2005, Universiti SainsMalaysia received a letter from Invest Penang inviting it to act as consultants to the project entitled “Strategic Roadmap for the Development of Marine Biotechnology, Biodiversity & Biopharmaceutical Research and Industry in Malaysia”. A Memorandum of Agreement was signed in September 2007 between USM and Invest Penang. Several members of the academic staff of Centre for Drug Research are involved in the project.

The Objectives: The primary objective of the study is to propose a strategic roadmap in order to help the government to establish the biopharmaceutical research & industry in the Northern Region of Peninsular Malaysia, specifically to:

1. identify focus areas suitable for further development of biopharmaceutical research & industry;
2. develop a roadmap that identifies the processes needed to develop the biopharmaceutical research and industry;
3. describe the profile of industries targeted for further dissemination of the incentives to be developed; and
4. identify competitive incentive packages.

The Scope: The project is limited to the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia, specifically covering the geographical locations of the states of Perlis, Kedah, Penang and northern parts of Perak.