Under the accord, Beximco is helping BioCare set up a manufacturing plant at Seri Iskandar Pharmaceutical Park in Perak, Malaysia.
When completed the plant will be operated by a joint venture firm in which Bangladesh-based Beximco will hold a 30% stake.
A metered dose inhaler manufacturing site has already been completed and deemed to be in compliance with good manufacturing practice (GMP) standards by Malaysia’s National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) according to the firms.
Nazmul Hassan, Beximco managing director, said: “Our JV with BioCare will help address the unmet needs of patients and physicians by supporting the Malaysian government’s initiative to promote the local pharmaceutical industry.”
Financial details of the accord have not been disclosed, however, according to Beximco’s statement for the six months to the end of December the Bangladeshi firm Taka 16m ($201,000) in BioCare to date.
Economic transformation
The Malaysian Government’s Economic Transformation Program was introduced in 2010. The aim is to increase the average income to $15,000 (€14,000) per person, attract $444bn worth of international investment and create 3.3m jobs by 2020.
Part of the plan is to increase the number of drugs made in Malaysia by repurposing existing capacity by enabling multinational companies to license production to local manufacturers.
The efforts have attracted a number of high profile manufacturers.
For example, in 2011 Indian biopharma firm Biocon invested INR500m ($118m) in an insulin manufacturing plant in Johor. Last week the firm was awarded a contract to supply a biosimilar insulin pen by the Malaysian Ministry of Health (MoH).
Services have also been attracted. In 2015, analytical and downstream technology firm Waters has opened a subsidiary in Kuala Lumpur.