InterMed, Biotropics Malaysia Partner

DORTMUND, Germany—InterMed Discovery (IMD) and Biotropics Malaysia Berhad announced a long-term strategic collaboration agreement under which Biotropics Malaysia will work with IMD to investigate and commercialize products derived from Malaysia’s rich biodiversity and multicultural traditions. The companies will seek to develop drugs, herbal medicines, nutritional supplements, functional foods, food ingredients, cosmetic ingredients, crop protection ingredients and other life sciences applications by exploring the extremely biodiversity-rich resources of Malaysia.

IMD will contribute its world leading expertise and technology platform for the discovery of natural products in order to build a proprietary portfolio of promising product candidates derived from naturally sourced materials from Malaysia. Biotropics Malaysia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the strategic investment arm of the government of Malaysia, will develop these candidates into premium products for the world markets resulting in a mutually beneficial value generation for both companies.

“We are delighted to have this new agreement with Biotropics, which is a significant step forward in our sustainable business growth through integrated research-based value generation validating our strong research capabilities,” said Bernard Becker, managing director, IMD. “It further opens business avenues and perspectives in to one of the most biodiverse countries and economically most dynamic regions in the world.”

Christof Jaenicke, CEO, Biotropics Malaysia, added: “Malaysia is one of the most biodiversity-rich countries in the world, and this resource has been accessed for thousands of years on a local basis. With the help of InterMed Discovery, we are positioned to commercialize this resource to the whole world while ensuring economic benefit for Malaysia in return.”