Diagnostic products manufactured by MBDr have been internationally acclaimed

Medical tests that benefit millions

As little as a decade ago clinicians and doctors examining patients for signs of typhoid depended on a 100-year-old test that was not always reliable and took a week to produce results. When Malaysian Bio-Diagnostics (MBDr) introduced its new test, the results were known within three hours and were accurate.

“It was truly revolutionary,” says Emeri Johari, the company’s Chief Executive Officer. The most recent version of the test, known as Typhirapid, can provide accurate results within 15 minutes. An estimated 2 million users have benefited from the company’s typhoid testing products worldwide.

MBDr’s latest products include a new test kit for tuberculosis. Developed at a cost of RM1.5 million (£234,000), the kit, which is named ezTBpcr (Easy Tuberculosis Polymerase Chain Reaction), is being tested in Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, India and the Philippines. “We have to provide proof that our product is good,” says Mr Emeri. “We have sent it to be tested in universities and hospitals in tropical countries with a lot of cases of tuberculosis. We give them free tests and in return, we ask them to do a prospective study and give us a report, and we use that as a marketing tool.”

Awarded BioNexus status from the government in 2006, MBDr’s story is a prime example of the potential of Malaysia’s growing biotechnology sector. From its start in 1994, its research has always been tailored towards commercial application.

Emeri Johari CEO of Malaysian Bio-Diagnostics

Based in the State of Selangor on Peninsular Malaysia, MBDr was the first Malaysian company to manufacture medical diagnostic and rapid test kits. Today, it is the leading Malaysian company in its field. Under the banner ‘We Care’, the company manufactures diagnostic kits for overseas markets as well as local buyers, and its products have been internationally acclaimed.

Since its early research into testing for typhoid, MBDr has diversified, moving into products for the treatment of diseases like HIV and tuberculosis, and drug abuse. It now has around 250 products, exporting 50 per cent of them to the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Guam, Brunei and the United States.

It collaborates with various other local universities and research institutions, and has close links with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), which is its partner for research in molecular biology. Currently, it is developing new medical diagnostic products for the detection of diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, HIV, paratyphoid, the Nipah virus and dengue.

Mr Emeri believes Malaysia is poised to achieve great things in the biotechnology world because of its vast natural resources. “If you look at the region, there are Singapore and India coming up with the same initiatives to attract big companies in the biotech sector, but what we offer is very uniquely Malaysian. What differentiates us is our biodiversity. Singapore does not have that. India has the biodiversity in terms of plants, but they are not as multi-ethnic as Malaysia.”