30 March 2018 (Friday)- Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) and the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today to work together in ensuring the safety and quality of traditional herbal products or raw herbal materials marketed in the country.
During the MOU Signing Ceremony held at Licuala Meeting Room.
Director General (DG) Dato’ Dr Abd Latif Mohmod represented FRIM in signing the MOU while KKM was represented by Health DG Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
In the collaboration, FRIM would be responsible for providing exposure to the local industry on the importance of quality control testing on herbal raw materials before use as an active ingredient of traditional products; providing testing and advisory services on quality control of herbal raw materials and products; as well as conducting validation and verification of quality control tests which have been developed.
Abd Latif (left) and Noor Hisham exchanging documents.
Abd Latif said: “FRIM will continue to provide guidance to herbal entrepreneurs in producing safe and effective products through technology transfer in the form of courses, technical training and services; particularly in processing based on good manufacturing practices (GMPs) and smart partnerships through collaborations with industry, academia or stakeholders from the aspect of standard technologies from upstream to downstream herbal production processes.”
From left: Amim, Nor Azah, Abd Latif, Noor Hisham, Ramli and Noorul Akmar posing for a picture after the signing ceremony.
Noor Hisham congratulated FRIM on the recognition given to its Natural Product Quality Control (NPQC) Laboratory by MOH through the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) for traditional product analysis services, which include limit tests on heavy metals, tests for microbial contamination, uniformity of weight and disintegration of capsule and tablet products, for a period of three years up to 2020.
“It is hoped that with this collaboration, the herbal research conducted will be utilised for the benefit and wellbeing of Malaysians as well as help to boost the country’s economy,” he added.
NPQC, which has been certified with MS ISO / IEC 17025 (General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories) is recognised as a BioNexus Partner (BNP) laboratory by Bioeconomy Corporation. In the collaboration, FRIM is recognised by NPRA as one of the National Herbal Raw Material Authentication Centres.
A group picture of FRIM and MOH officials who attended the signing ceremony.
Also present, FRIM Member Dato’ Sri Mohd Amim A. Wahab, also FRIM Inc. Advisor; FRIM Deputy DG (Research) Dr Ismail Harun; Deputy DG (Operations) Dr Khali Aziz Hamzah; Natural Products Division Director Dr Nor Azah Mohamad Ali; NPRA Director Dr Ramli Zainal and Centre of Quality Control Deputy Director Noorul Akmar Mohd Nur.
