Germany’s Intermed ties up with Malaysian government company

Collaboration agreed

InterMed Discovery of Dortmund, Germany, a specialist in the discovery of natural products agreed a collaboration with Biotropics Malaysia Berhad to investigate and commercialise products derived from Malaysia’s biodiversity and multicultural traditions.

The two companies will seek to develop drugs, herbal medicines, nutritional supplements, functional foods, food ingredients, cosmetic ingredients, crop protection ingredients and other life sciences applications.

InterMed will contribute its expertise and technology platform for the discovery of natural products to build a proprietary portfolio of compounds derived from naturally sourced materials from Malaysia. Biotropics will further develop these candidates into products.

“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,” said Bernard Becker, Managing Director of InterMed Discovery.

“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,” said Christof Jaenicke, CEO of Biotropics Malaysia Berhad, “With the help of InterMed Discovery we are positioned to commercialise this resource for the whole world while ensuring economic benefit for Malaysia in return.”

Intermed was founded in 2006 as a management buyout of the Natural Products Research Unit of Bayer Healthcare. Biotropics Malaysia Berhad (Biotropics), is a wholly owned subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the strategic investment arm of the Government of Malaysia, whose mission is to manage the commercial assets held by the government and to undertake strategic investments in new industries and geographies. Biotropics’ role is to promote the growth of herbal-based products from Malaysia, scientifically tested and verified and meet the highest safety and quality standards globally.