This opportunity refers to positioning Malaysia as a manufacturing hub of generics globally, being a more prominent first-mover in the industry in a wider set of economies. Driving this forward is important as it allows local manufacturers to gain a competitive edge by on one end, adapting to global standards and hence building competitiveness, but simultaneously, also allowing greater access to innovator drugs for the domestic market through enhanced competitiveness. Furthermore, it allows Malaysia to be more self-sufficient in the face of supply chain risks, as more manufacturing can be performed locally.

This opportunity refers to positioning Malaysia as a central single window for all early-stage clinical trials within ASEAN, which involves increased Phase 1 research. Early-stage clinical research represents amongst the most complex services, with key functions such as first-in-human trials requiring significant expertise across regulations, ethics, R&D, and trial management. The inherent complexity of the industry creates demand for high-skilled talent with strong multi-disciplinary foundations. Beyond this, expanding Malaysia’s early phase clinical research can increase integration of internationally sponsored research by encouraging continuity that incorporates end-to-end local phase 1 to phase 4 research. It also helps to drive treatment inclusivity, as local testing creates an ecosystem that can lead to local communities enjoying greater access to drugs for neglected diseases.

This opportunity refers to increasing the rate to which manufacture of bio-based drugs are localised in Malaysia. Driving this opportunity, leveraging bio-industry leaders, can accelerate the development of knowledge-intensive talent locally. It also provides a pathway to forge strengthened supply chain relationships with contracting partners, which are likely to be multinational corporations, contributing to developing stronger supply chain linkages. Given the import intensity of biological products, increasing localisation can also enhance the affordability of life-saving treatments and serve to drive national self-sufficiency.

This opportunity refers to positioning Malaysia as a manufacturing hub for higher value-added traditional medicine products, leveraging the unique biodiversity of Malaysia’s agriculture, to be exported to countries where demand exists. The botanicals subsector has significant national importance due to its integration with the local agricultural scene, which forms a key economic pillar in many states. As the botanicals industry develops, an accelerated development towards botanicals with proven medical benefits can provide a platform for job creation and expanded research capabilities. Given Malaysia’s botanical industry is relatively nascent, driving investments into the subsector can promote increased scale of operations needed to accelerate the development of botanical clusters similar to those present in China and India.

This opportunity refers to the fundamental research to discover and develop bio-based products for drug manufacture. Despite its significant growth potential, the biologics subsectors’ demand for significant patient capital and technical expertise remains a substantial barrier to entry for most developing economies. This challenge is compounded by the high failure risks. Given Malaysia’s relatively nascent biologics subsector, both in terms of capabilities and regulations, contract manufacturing offers the most attainable value generation area. This will enable the industry to build and secure the necessary foundations as a pre-requisite to enable greater end-to-end biologics development.

This opportunity refers to the development and usage of digital services or applications across the drug manufacturing value chain. Malaysia enjoys natural strengths in the digital-pharmaceutical subsector due to high local digital literacy and the strong existing digital infrastructure. These are complemented by a strong governmental agenda to develop digital services through the MyDIGITAL blueprint. However, when it comes to technical expertise for pharmaceutical-centric services, Malaysia’s capabilities remain relatively nascent. This is paired with limited local market demand as digital-centricity has yet come to significant fruition both at a private and a public healthcare level.

This opportunity refers to the exports of Halal-certified and locally produced medicines to high-demand markets. Despite the growing interest in this segment globally, Malaysia’s maturity in this field is still growing, as it will require greater take up of Halal certification on medicinal products across industry, as well as a stronger effort towards negotiating partnerships with high-potential markets before this opportunity can truly materialise.