Malladi Drugs to invest $300-mn in Malaysia

New Delhi: India's Malladi Drugs and Pharmaceutical will invest up to $300 million over the next three to five years to set up its global 'one-stop shop' in Malaysia.

Malladi is an active pharma ingredient (API) manufacturer based in Chennai, India, while BioTech is the main government agency for promoting biotechnology industry in Malaysia.

BioTech Chief Executive Officer Iskandar Mizal Mahmood said here yesterday Malladi had yet to pick a site but would be encouraged to locate at one of the economic corridors in the country, in line with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's call for those areas to be driven by biotechnology.

'The investment entails the development of the entire value chain within the contract manufacturing facility, starting from the API formulation,' he told reporters after the opening of BioMalaysia 2008 biotechnology exhibition and conference here.

Earlier, Malladi handed over a business plan for its operations here to BioTech. The firm aims to expand into other areas of service offerings as a contract research organization in Malaysia, including for the segment of oncology and steroids, and beta-lactums.