The Kerala-based Agastya Biopharm India Ltd, has approached the Malaysian Biotech Corporation to set up a manufacturing unit for biotech medicines in Malaysia. In the proposed venture the Corporation has shown interest and discussions are progressing, according to Prof D Aravindakshan, chairman and managing director of Agastya Biopharm.

Further the company plans to establish a Biotech University and a platform for joint effort in research and development for drug developments, he told Pharmabiz.

However, the senior vice president, Strategy & Planning, of the Malaysian Biotech Corporation, Selvam Ramaraj speaking to Pharmabiz from Kula Lumpur said that so far no agreement or positive discussion held between the two companies. He said that the corporation had approached many foreign companies for business development and tie-up and Agastya Biopharm happened to be one among them.

Prof Aravindakshan said the process of the Rs 300 crore project is likely to be start once te agreement is signed. To a query why Malaysia has chosen as an ideal place to start the unit, he said the incentives given to industrial units by the government of Malaysia is attractive. For ten years from the starting of any industry, 100 percent tax holiday will be given. Two hundred percent of the total investment will be benefited as tax reimbursement by the total package of incentives given by Malaysian Government to new biotech companies, Prof Aravindakshan said.

"We are planning to depute half of our 74 full-time scientists to the new venture in Malaysia if the project is materialized. Our company is manufacturing all the modern allopathic medicines in our facilities which are complying with the GMP norms of the WHO, Indian Pharmacopoeia, British Pharmacopoeia and US Pharmacopoeia," he said.

Regarding domestic ventures, the CMD said the company has urged the Kerala State government to recommend its proposal for Special Economic Zone (SEZ) status for 12 hectares of land at Eruthenpathy village in Chittur taluk in Palakkad District to establish a biotechnology park unit.

The company will set up two manufacturing units in Kerala in another five years with an investment of Rs 600 crore and funds for the same will be raised through initial public offering (IPO). He said that the plants, to be established in Palakkad and in Mavelikkara, would involve in the production of more than 250 pharmaceutical products including 43 biotech products.