Dato' Dr Mohd Nazlee Kamal, is the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Malaysian Biotechnology Corp (BiotechCorp), which is the lead development agency for the biotechnology industry in Malaysia. Dr Kamal in his interview to BioSpectrum speaks about the various developments taking place in the Malaysian life science industry. Following are the excerpts from the interview.

Malaysia is promoting investment at an international level. What kind of response are you getting from international investors?
International investors have been responsive to our biotech advancements, and we are happy with the collaborations that have been extended to raise the Malaysian biotechnology industry to meet the global demand.

Malaysia's east coasts have been a favorite of international investors with each looking at our coastal waters to further enhance the agricultural biotechnology sector. It was during BioBoston 2012 that we announced Darden as one of our BioNexus status recipients, a status accorded by BiotechCorp to biotechnology companies. Darden has investment over $600 million (RM1 billion) in lobster hatchery.

Also exchanged during BIO Boston June 2012 was the collaboration instrument between Terengganu State Government, BiotechCorp, East Coast Economic Region Development Center (ECERDC) and GEVO to facilitate investment in Kertih Biopolymer Park (KBP). The estimated investment is worth $990 million (RM1.65 billion).

A further development to KBP is Korea's CJ CheilJedang and France's Arkema SA investment of RM2 billion in what is to be Asia's largest biorefinery complex in KBP. The bio-methionine plant project involves the development of Korea's CJ CheilJedang (CJ)'s bio-methionine plant and France's Arkema's thiochemicals platform to be completed by end of 2013.