The Biotechnology Company in Malaysia: Inno Bologics Sdn. Bhd

On 5th of January 2011, a group trainees from BeST programme consisting of 35 trainees visited a biotechnology company in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan which is the Inno Biologics Sdn. Bhd. It was a part of the programme. The review of the company is as follow:

Inno Biologics Sdn. Bhd. was established in 2002 and the company is located in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan. It is one of the components of InnoBio Venture Group besides InnoBio Diagnostics Sdn. Bhd. and InnoBio Innovation Centre. The Board of Directors consisted of its chairman, Y. Bhg. Tan Sri Datuk Dr Ahmad Zaharudin Idrus and its member of directors are Dato' Puteh Rukiah binti Abdul Majid, Dato' Dr. Muhamad Zohadie Bardaie, Datuk Dr. Megat Burhainuddin Megat Abdul Rahman, Dr. Kader Sultan Hj Ismail, Datuk Dr Ahmed Tasir bin Lope Pihie, Dato' Wan Adnan bin Wan Mamat, and Dato’ Dr. Mohd Nazlee Kamal.

The company is expert in the mammalian cell culture technology and they are the first biotechnology company in Malaysia that set up a current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) modular biopharmaceutical production plant in Malaysia. They took this initiative to meet the requirement of international companies mainly from European countries and United States of America which are their partners. The international standards that they followed are with the European Medical Agency (EMEA) and United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory prerequisites. This company has an advance technology that is able to produce 1000 litres of drugs. They have made strategic partnerships with three reputable biotechnology companies worldwide which are Boehringer Ingelheim in USA, CIMAB S.A in Cuba and GE Healthcare Company in United Kingdom. Other than that, they are also collaborated with local institutions which like UKM Medical Centre and Kuala Lumpur Sports Medicine Centre.

One of the services that they provide includes contract research for pre-clinical production. The team in the Contract Research Division will serve in enhancing the customers’ product toxicology studies which they commence small scale production of the subjected product in their appropriate high-tech facilities. They are also giving antibody services covering Monoclonal antibody (mAbs) production, construction of chimeric antibody and humanized antibody. These services are taken over by InnoBio’s Protein Science experts who are using fully integrated technology in developing and producing antibodies along with transforming non-human antibodies into humanized substances that are secure for human usage. Moreover, they give cell line development services to the customers. These include cloning and verification of gene expression, protein expression and establishment of cell lines to name a few. The services involve mammalian cells which are for the production of recombinant proteins for clinical applications. Several capacities of bioreactors are used for cell line development. The knowledge applied for this purpose is molecular biology, cell culture, process development, protein expression and verification.

Their Process Science team has vast experience and skills in setting up processes for seamless biomanufacturing. Three major steps are involved in the processes which are cell culture development, separation and filtration and purification. The cGMP biomanufacturing facilities are also included in the company’s services. The customers that choose to use the facilities will be offered efficient and flexible purification systems for their products to enable broad kinds of chromatographic techniques to be used. InnoBio has claimed that the equipment can fit with their clients’ needs that are according to the cGMP rules.

Several differences could be identified by comparing between Inno Biologics and Stellagen Sdn. Bhd. Stellagen produces a product called StellarLac ™ which is a type of poultry feed supplement consisting of probiotic to substitute the antibiotic currently used in the mass poultry farms nationwide. In contrast, Inno Biologics provides services related to protein products and mammalian cell culture technology. Stellagen is a private company that has been awarded Bionexus status whereas Inno Biologics is a bionexus status and a government link company (GLC) and obtained the funding from Ministry of Finance, Malaysia. The Stellagen Company is only run by five persons and uses small operating area while Inno Biologics is led and managed by numbers of board of directors and management team as they have large operating area to cover.

To summarize, Inno Biologics Sdn. Bhd. is a good example of developing Malaysian biotechnology company that is growing positively.  The good quality services they have and their long term plans will enable them to sustain and realize the National Biotechnology Policy to make Malaysia a global biotechnology hub by the year 2020.

In ten years time, Inno Biologics Sdn. Bhd. will gain a good prospect to sustain in the biotechnology industry in Malaysia and globally as well. Their 10-year smart partnership with foreign company like Boehringer Ingelheim enables this company to get the latest technology and retain customers’ trust. They are now entering the third phase of their growth Model that they are able to give total contribution to the Malaysia’s economic growth. They are also enhancing huge potential projects to boost revenue for their sustainability. The completion of Bio Innovation Centre (BIC) buildings which can be occupied officially in 2012 will strengthen the growth of Inno Biologics. The company intended to lease the building to new or well-known foreign biotech companies that want to reduce their cost but get the same or more advance facilities for their productions which is also give profit to InnoBio itself.