5 June 2018 (Tuesday) – Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) is ready to work with any party in enhancing the quality of herbal product, competitiveness as well as the ability to penetrate local and international markets.

FRIM has been recognised as a Centre of Excellence in Natural Products by Malaysian Bioeconomy Development Corporation (Bioeconomy Corporation), an agency for the Malaysia bio-based industry development, under the purview of Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MOSTI).

Four FRIM laboratories have obtained the BioNexus Partners (BNP) status from Bioeconomy Corporation. FRIM Phytochemistry (FK) Laboratory was accorded the status in October 2009, followed by the Herbal Product Development (PPH) Laboratory, Pharmacognosy Laboratory and Herbal Technology Centre (HTC) in January 2011. Based on the good performance in testing services, the BNP status for all these facilities were renewed until 2021.

FRIM Director General Dato’ Dr Abd Latif Mohmod said, “BNP initiated by Bioeconomy Corporation aims to support the biotechnology industry through the upgrading of research facilities, infrastructure and services of BNP labs.”

Best BNP for AgBiotech Award 2013 (left) and Most Collaborative BNP Award 2015 trophies.

FRIM attended the 2012 BNP Annual Meeting.

“The BNP programme provides a network for cooperation between these laboratories and other higher learning institutes, research institutes, technology park, incubation centres and government-linked companies (GLCs) in efforts to empower the herbal industry,” he added.

Natural Product Quality Control (NPQC) Laboratory under the PPH was also recognised as a panel lab for the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA), Ministry of Health from 2016 to 2021. NPQC verifies the quality and safety of the products and directly expedite the process of product registration at NPRA.

NPQC, FK and Pharmacognosy Labs have been accredited under the ISO/IEC 17025 scheme since 2012.

Meanwhile, HTC has also been accorded the status of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and Halal Certification to help improve the quality of traditional herbal products. PPH and Pharmacognosy Lab had received the Best BNP for AgBiotech Award 2013 and Most Collaborative BNP Award 2015 respectively.

To date, through the BNP programme, FRIM has conducted testing on 3,484 samples from 313 companies/clients.

FRIM BNP labs representatives at the Biomalaysia & Bioeconomy Asia Pacific 2017 conference.

NPQC staff conducting uniformity test on a sample received.