Kuala Lumpur, September 7, 2006 -- GE Healthcare and Inno Biologics Sdn. Bhd. (Inno Biologics) today announced their collaboration in training, technology updates and support services with the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).
Inno Biologics is Malaysia's first cGMP biopharmaceutical plant. This MOA sees a long-term private sector-government collaboration for breakthrough technology and knowledge transfer that will nurture a sector touted by the government as the new engine of economic growth.
Malaysia had indicated the seriousness of growing the field, introducing a slew of measures which include RM2.02 billion fund under the Ninth Malaysia Plan 2006-2010 and the launch of the National Biotechnology Policy in April 2005. In April this year, the government announced it was aggressively looking out for international collaboration.
"Healthcare is among the three thrust areas identified by the Government for the biotechnology scheme, and the partnership with GE Healthcare is very timely", said Keiko Hattori, General Manager, GE Healthcare, Asia.
GE Healthcare is the USD15 billion Healthcare business of GE, and provides transformational medical technologies that are shaping a new age of patient care. It also provides complete chromatographic solution for downstream processing, from process development to production scale using GE's 'Akta' platform.
Ms Hattori, General Manager of Asia, GE Healthcare Lifesciences, explained, "In fact, Inno Biologics is the first Asian owner of Akta Process, launched by GE in October 2005. The impact on the industry is tremendous. With Inno Biologics creating a milestone for being the first cGMP biopharmaceutical facility in Malaysia, the platform is set to encourage future CMO investment into the country."
The other owners of Akta Process are a European and another US biopharmaceutical customer. Akta Process is a low pressure liquid chromatography system designed for accurate, reproducible purification in downstream processing. Three systems were customized based on Inno Biologic's specific needs. Should these needs change in the future, the modular design of Akta Process makes it possible to alter the configuration, ensuring a more efficient and flexible system for diverse range of biologics.
The collaboration with Inno Biologics is in line with GE Healthcare's commitment, which offers unique abilities to leverage technological and biological breakthroughs to transform healthcare delivery from treating "late disease" to a focus on "early health".
Arun Sharma, General Manager and Country Manager, Southeast Asia, GE Healthcare, said, " Biotechnology is an important component to GE Healthcare's commitment to preventive medicine. Our vision for the future is to enable a new "early health" model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention."
"Early Health will mean more accurate diagnosis, earlier, more effective treatment and better outcomes for more patients and will be key to our efforts to improve cost efficiencies for the healthcare industry. In a field as important as healthcare, innovation is a must. That's why we're constantly researching new, better ways for doctors to diagnose and treat patients," Arun continued.
Malaysia is the company's biggest market and largest revenue contributor in Southeast Asia, followed by Indonesia. Among GE Healthcare's Imagination breakthrough products is the Lightspeed VCT- 64 slice CT scanner and the world's first High-definition MR.
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GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, performance improvement, drug discovery and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform and treat disease, so their patients can live their lives to the fullest.
Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $15 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 41,500 people committed to servicing healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.
GE's relationship with Malaysia began in 1975. Today, investments in Malaysia exceed RM1 billion, with more than 1, 200 Malaysians working for GE. GE works closely with local infrastructure providers, supplying equipment and services to TNB, Petronas, KTM and local water authorities. GE's Healthcare division supplies private and public hospitals with the latest diagnostic imaging equipment and healthcare information systems, while the company's lighting division supports key stadiums and ports. Visit http://www.ge.com/my/ for more information.
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