Human tissue processing centre to be operational with two years

PETALING JAYA: Intran Technologies Sdn Bhd, in collaboration with Netherlands medical devices company Leader Biomedical Europe Holding B.V., plans to set up a human tissue processing facility in the country within the next 18 to 24 months.

Intran Technologies managing director Padmanabhan Mahalingam said the manufacturing facility, including the infrastructure, equipment and operational capital, is expected to cost about RM11 mil

The facility would be located at an existing building with the current options being in the vicinity of the University of Malaya or any other suitable place in the Klang Valley, he said.

“Leader Biomedical and Koperasi Pusat Perubatan Universiti Malaya Bhd (KPPUMB) have committed RM1 million each. We intend to raise the remainder via soft loans from various investors which we are confident of getting in the next six to seven months,” he told reporters after the signing ceremony with KPPUMB.

The companies inked a memorandum of understanding with KPPUMB, which will be an active partner and strategic investor, to plan, construct and maintain the regional tissue processing centre in Malaysia.

They also signed a letter of intent with Tissue Engineering Centre, under Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Faculty of Medicine, which outlined a strategic cooperation to generate a pipeline of sustainable and innovative products and process applications.

The human tissue processing facility meant to cater for Southeast Asia will provide safe, effective and novel human allografts, processed using supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) extraction techniques.

“It will utilise Leader Biomedical’s eCOO Technology, a unique proprietary solution to clean, sterilised and impregnate human and animal-derived tissues using scCO2,” he said.

Allografts are used in various medical procedures such as accidents and similar trauma cases when there is bone loss or soft tissue damage.

Meanwhile, Leader Biomedical’s group business director Basil Babychan said the human tissues are currently processed in the Netherlands so setting up the same facility in Malaysia could better serve the Southeast Asian region.

“The facility that we intend to design and construct would have the capacity to generate about RM10 million to RM15 million a year’s worth of donors.

“But for the first year, we expect to make about RM2 mi to RM3 mil due to unavailability of locally procured tissues for processing. Therefore, we intend to improve the donor procurement infrastructure in Malaysia and in the region,” he said.

He added that most countries had a robust blood donation infrastructure but not a tissue donation infrastructure; hence the need for public and private institutions to develop it together. – Jan 18, 2020, Bernama.

 

 

 

 

 

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