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COVID-19 isn’t the only disease in the government’s sights as it launches a plan to put Malaysia in the league of vaccine-producing countries.
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VAX RESEARCH, PRODUCTION HUB CLOSER TO REALITY
New Straits Times, Malaysia
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EYE ON GLOBAL MARKET
VAX RESEARCH, PRODUCTION
HUB CLOSER TO REALITY
Launch of roadmap, institute will better prepare nation for future outbreaks, says Ismail Sabri
BANGI
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ALAYSIA has laid the groundwork to face future pandemics be- yond Covid-19 and transform the country into a hub for vaccine production with the launch of the National Vaccine Development Roadmap (PPVN) and Malaysian Genome and Vac- cine Institute (MGVI).Prime Minister Datuk Seri Is- mail Sabri Yaakob said through these initiatives, Malaysia could produce its own vaccines that were effective and safe in accor- dance with conditions set by the National Pharmaceutical Regula- tory Agency.
“Although research and devel- opment and vaccine production require heavy investment, such efforts have the potential to bring long-term returns for Keluarga Malaysia in the form of cost sav- ings in treating diseases and in- vestments by multinational com- panies in Malaysia.
“Through the implementation of PPVN and establishment of MGVI, highly skilled human cap- ital in various fields of research, especially those related to health- care and vaccines, can be pro- duced,” he said at the launch event at the Malaysian Genome Institute (MGI) here yesterday.
Present were Science, Technol- ogy and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba and Health Minister Khairy Jamalud- din.The prime minister said more jobs could be created for skilled workers and enhance the stan- dard of living and health of the people.
PPVN, he said, would not focus
solely on Covid-19 and it would develop vaccines for other dis- eases.
He said three projects were ready to be implemented through PPVN, with the first involving the production of two types of Covid-19 vaccines using inacti- vated virus and mRNA, devel- oped by the Institute for Medical Research (IMR). He said the gov- ernment provided funds for re- search to the Health Ministry and Sukuk Prihatin (Covid-19 re- search allocation special aid) to- talling RM3.5 million.
The second project was for the d e v e l o p m e n t o f m u c o s- al/oral/subunit vaccines against c h o l e r a , t u b e r c u l o s i s a n d Covid-19, which is a collaboration b e t w e e n U n i v e r s i t i S a i n s Malaysia and Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technol- ogy. The Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti) p rov i d e d R M 1 0. 5 m i l l i o n through the Strategic Research Fund.
“ T h e t h i rd p ro j e c t i s o n pre-clinical evaluation of a ther- apeutic cancer vaccine for the treatment of head and neck can- cer by Cancer Research Malaysia at a cost of RM3 million financed by Mosti.
“However, as there is no facility yet to conduct the first human clinical trial in Malaysia, CRM will conduct the clinical trial from February 2022 until March 2023 in the United Kingdom,” he said.
Ismail Sabri said upgrading MGI to the MGVI was in line with the institute’s scope on genome research and molecular biology in vaccine production efforts.
“I am confident that the estab- lishment of MGVI can have a pos- itive impact on the country from the economic, social and tech- nological aspects, thus contribut- ing to economic stability because there is no dependence on ex- ternal sources of supply,” he said.
Ismail Sabri said the govern- ment was committed to pro- pelling R&D to produce new tech- nologies by ensuring that 50 per
cent of the government’s re- search funds went to experimen- tal development (pre-commer- cialisation activities), especially for innovations with high poten- tial for commercialisation.
Through various programmes by the government, he said, the country expected more vaccine scientists to be produced, thus supporting its plan to increase the ability to develop hu- man-specific vaccines, not only for domestic use but also the global market.
He also expressed confidence that Malaysia could reduce its de- pendence on vaccine-producing countries when it had strength- ened the country’s health secu- rity.
Ismail Sabri said the govern- ment had agreed to extend the services of vaccine researchers in universities with a five-year con- tract when they reached the re- tirement age of 60. He said this decision would take immediate effect to ensure that experts re- searching vaccines, especially those marketable internationally, could finish their work.
“So, there is no longer any ques- tion of feeling insecure in the as- pect of the work they are con- ducting. So, they can continue for five years and after that we will see if there is a need to extend it further.
“This is on condition that the research and development they are undertaking can be commer- cialised and marketed through- out the world,” he said.
Ismail Sabri said the govern- ment was doing this to retain the talent of many internationally Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob being briefed on Duopharma Biotech Bhd’s operations by its chief operating officer Wan Amir Jeffery Wan Abdul Majid after the launch of the National Vaccine Development Roadmap and Malaysian Genome and Vaccine Institute in Bangi yesterday.PIC BY AZHAR RAMLI
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recognised experts who might be enticed by other countries when they re t i re.
“If (services) not extended, it will affect their research and if (research) is continued by new
experts, it may take time,” he s aid.
On the number of researchers who will benefit from the gov- ernment’s decision, he said the data would be obtained from
M o sti and the Higher Education Ministr y.
On the head and neck cancer vaccine by CRM, Ismail Sabri said Malaysia was the first country to develop it.
“We are capable of offering our own vaccines and that is why the g ove r n m e n t u p g r a d e d t h e Malaysian Genome Institute into the Malaysian Genome and Vac- cine Institute,” he said. Bernama
