Biotechnology: The advent of molecular pharming
Dr Ahmad Ibrahim
BIOTECHNOLOGY is now actively pursued as a new growth sector for Malaysia.
Under the Asean Free Trade Agreement Malaysia has to reduce duties on tobacco imports by 2010. This will negatively impact on the competitiveness of Malaysian tobacco since the cost of production is almost two times higher than Thailand and Indonesia.
The National Biotechnology Policy unveiled in 2005 is already in place. The implementation of the policy is anchored by the Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation (MBC). Based on their latest information, many companies have now been accorded the Bionexus Status.
Bionexus companies have to fulfil MBC's many technical and commercial criteria. With the Bionexus status, the companies are eligible for the many incentives offered under the policy, including tax breaks and some attractive research and development grants.
The focus now is on three sectors, agricultural, pharmaceutical and industrial.
In the pharmaceutical sector, there has been a growing interest in producing vaccines from plants. This is what is termed as molecular farming. Essentially it involves producing new compounds from plants through genetic engineering. The new compounds can include pharmaceutical products such as medical drugs, vaccines or antibodies.
In the European Union, genetically engineering the tobacco plant to produce vaccines has already advanced to the commercial phase. Tobacco is among the easiest plant to genetically transform.
What is needed is only to do some research to develop an economically high-yielding transformed tobacco plant designed to produce vaccines for the regional market. And this is not difficult.
In the EU, molecular pharming through tobacco is already on the verge of commercial reality. The target vaccine, of course, differs.
But why the sudden interest in plant-made pharmaceuticals? There are many reasons.
So far the commercial production of clinical-grade pharmaceuticals has relied on two major production routes; using microbial cells or animal cells.
Both use fermentation and are, therefore, very expensive to build and operate. There is also concern that animal cells can harbour human disease carrying microbes. Add that to the growing demand for halal vaccines, a plant based production system immediately becomes attractive.
This is also the reason why the plant-based production platform has attracted strong corporate interest from companies involved in pharmaceuticals as well as agrotechnology.
And among the plants, tobacco offers many technical advantages. These include the fact that tobacco already has a well-established technology for gene transfer and expression, and has potentially high biomass yield per hectare. Not to mention the existence of already available large-scale infrastructure for processing that does not come into contact with the human and animal food chains.
Most important of all, tobacco farmers can continue to grow the crop which they have amassed many years of experience and expertise. Therefore, it is time that Malaysia seriously considered investing in molecular pharming using tobacco. This also jives in well with Malaysia's call to venture aggressively into the innovation and knowledge economy. TheEast Coast Economic Region (ECER) should include this as one of their high impact projects.
Over the years, the world tobacco industry has had its fair share of controversies. In the United States, for example, many tobacco companies have lost millions in major legal settlements. But this has not stopped them from investing more.
This happens despite the advertising ban on cigarettes as well as the never ending anti-smoking campaigns launched by lobby groups everywhere. Not to mention the mandatory warning label they have to print on their packaging.
All such constraints have not deterred the industry from expanding. If at all, the tobacco industry worldwide has yet to show any sign of decline.
Can this be due to the fact that in spite of all the scientific evidences on tobacco's negative health record, the population of smokers worldwide continues to rise? Somehow, the kick that one gets from smoking appears to be worth all the risks associated with it.
In Malaysia, for many years now, tobacco farming has been the bread and butter of many rural households, especially in the states of Kelantan and Terengganu.
Tobacco farmers in the two east coast states have over the years emerged as a political force to be reckoned with.
In 2004, Malaysia recorded its highest ever tobacco production at 13 million kilogrammes dry. However, in 2006, this had declined to only six million kilogrammes dry. Most are flue-cured tobacco where China is the largest producer in the world.
The other major producers include Brazil at a distant second place with about a quarter of China's production. India, the US and Greece each produces about 12 per cent of China's production.
In Malaysia, with the advent of the Asean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA), tobacco farming is expected to see a decline.
Under AFTA, Malaysia has to reduce duties on tobacco imports by 2010. This will negatively impact on the competitiveness of Malaysian tobacco since the cost of production is almost two times higher than Thailand while in Indonesia the cost is even lower. The cost in Malaysia is about RM10 per kg while in Thailand it can be as low as RM5 per kg.
Prior to AFTA, the average price of cured tobacco is between RM13-14 per kilogramme. This is considered still profitable. But with AFTA, there is talk about price declining to possibly RM7-8 per kilogramme. A recent announcement by the government to maintain price at RM14 per kilogramme until 2010 is definitely welcome news.
What happens after 2010 concern not only the farmers but also the government as well because the full effects of AFTA will be felt then. It is for this reason that the government has in recent years put into place strategic programmes to wean away farmers from tobacco and move into other alternative economic crops.
Kenaf has been promoted as one crop option. Under the recently launched ECER, the target area for kenaf growing is about 10,000 hectares. This is expected to increase the income of 10,000 marginal tobacco farmers as well as create more jobs. The only worry is that the market for kenaf is still uncertain.
One potential product outlet is natural fiber for the insulation market. The other potential area of application is as composite material for the automotive industry. The question is, will farmers enjoy the same, if not a better, income level than what they have been used to growing tobacco?
Unlike kenaf, vaccine is a high value product. And through molecular farming, where tobacco is genetically engineered to produce vaccines, there is a good chance that tobacco farmers will enjoy even better income than what they have been used to.
This article is brought to you by Technology Park Malaysia
- NST -
No comments:
Post a Comment