Malaysian Bio-XCell and Agila Biotech join forces on biotech facility

In conjunction with Asia’s leading biopharma industry gathering, the BioPharma Asia Convention (BioPharma Asia) held in Singapore last month, Malaysian Bio-XCell Sdn Bhd (Bio-XCell) and Agila Biotech Sdn Bhd (Agila Biotech (Malaysia)) sealed a 107 million ringgit ($34.4 million) build-and-lease agreement to set up a customized biotechnology facility located in the Bio-XCell ecosystem in Nusajaya, Johor, Malaysia.

The agreement signed between the chief executives of Bio-XCell and Agila Biotech (Malaysia), a subsidiary of India-listed Strides Arcolab, replaces an earlier accord signed in May 2011. “Agila Biotech (Malaysia) is indeed poised to be a major anchor tenant for the Bio-XCell ecosystem and we are extremely pleased to be able to offer our services and support for this promising project," said Rizatuddin Ramli, CEO of Bio-XCell.

Bio-XCell will fund 67.32 million ringgit (about $22 million) to be provided under the build-and-lease agreement with Agila Biotech (Malaysia), which will cover the construction of the building and part of the equipment. All other related state-of-the-art equipment, integration service and testing of this turnkey project (estimated at $13-$15 million) will be funded by Agila Biotech (Malaysia) from internal accruals and funding from external sources. Both parties are aiming for the R&D and manufacturing facilities to be operational by end 2014.