By Rashid Yusof

Exchange of documents between CEO of NIBM, Dr Raha Abdul Rahim (front, centre) and ED/CEO of MVP Healthcare, Rashidah Ibrahim and witnessed by Pfizer’s Country Cluster Lead, Luksanawan Thanpaibool, MOSTI Minister  Chang Lih Kang, KSU MOSTI Dr Aminuddin b Hashim, NIBM’s Board of Trustees Ahmad Zaki Zahid  and Chairman of MVP Healthcare Sdn Bhd Dr Md Amin Muslan.

Malaysia took a decisive step today (Jan 30, 2023) to get the nation’s human vaccine production going.

We are trailing our neighbours, so, it is nice to witness Pfizer, the National Institutes of Biotechnology Malaysia and MVP Healthcare signing a memorandum of understanding.

Our animal vaccine trail, as opposed to the human variety, is well travelled with the story of MVP tracing back some 30 years.

This was when a bored Mardi researcher read a New Straits Times story that Arthur Webster of Australia would be producing animal vaccine in Cambodia. Mohamed Yaacob raced into action.

Mohamed Yaacob

Born on July 20, 1942, Mohamed Yaacob had submitted a bid for the privatisation of the Veterinary Research Institute’s animal vaccine about a year after quitting his job as a food technologist at Mardi, in 1990. He was successful in his bid, but, was handed a tough, somewhat crippling, 18-month deadline to get the vaccine facilities going.

Mohamed Yaacob contacted the Australian Embassy, and, was soon in Australia offering Arthur Webster a stake in the eventual outfit, MVP or Malaysian Vaccines and Pharmaceuticals. (Arthur Webster was eventually acquired by Zoetis Animal Health, an animal arm of Pfizer.)

“Arthur Webster basically told me, you must be crazy. But we shook hands,” Mohamed Yaacob told ApaKhabar last week.

He had earlier bought a three-acre land in Pulau Meranti in a rubber enclave for RM120,000.

MVP took off by producing IBDV877 with Arthur Webster. Today, only two companies in the world own this vaccine  – Zoetis and MVP.

This pioneering story could travel a fair bit more. A quick look ;

 * Mohamed Yaacob’s reliance of line drawings to get things started within the 18-month period in 1993;

*  MVP was only able to commence operations when TNB  provided supply via its rural electrification programme, giving us a hint on the accessibility of the Pulau Meranti site;

* The new outfit was greeted by the outbreak of Swine fever.

This must now wait.

Rashidah Ibrahim

Enter, Rashidah Ibrahim, born July 5 1965, and now executive director-CEO and owner of MVP. She featured in today’s tripartite MoU.

A college sprinter, Rashidah fared fairly well as a stockbroker. But bidding , in 2006, for a 55 per cent stake in MVP was something else.

Eleven years earlier,  Mohamed Yaacob decided to sell off MVP.  Animal vaccine production that started within the Government fold in 1989,  returned to the realm of Government agency – MTDC bought a 77 cent stake in MVP from Mohamed Yaacob.

MTDC went on to instal  the proper system and opened up a bigger market.

When it was time to return MVP to the private sector, MTDC was said to be moved by Rashidah Ibrahim’s commitment of mortgaging her PJ house. She won the bid.

Eventually,  MVP that started by producing animal vaccine for the local market, expanded to exporting to some 20 nations.

“We are now upgrading and expanding our facilities to cater for higher demands. Right now we are exploring highly populated countries like Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye,” Rashidah said in an interview.

Being the Owner Helps

“I have to set good examples,” Rashidah Ibrahim  recounted. One situation was those stacks of cheques piling up on the number one’s table for up to 10 days. She would clear them in 30 minutes. The new executive director – CEO went on to set tough deadlines.

By 2018, MVP began exploring vaccines for humans with the setting up of  MVP Healthcare. “We were anticipating Influenza pandemic but corona descended on us.”

The human vaccine venture would require huge investment with MVP planning to hire some 200 highly-skilled employees. This year shall be the exploratory year with rollout targeted for 2026.

MVP through its subsidiary, MVP Life Sciences, will also be setting up a Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) egg farm at a 60- acre site in Tanjung Malim. MVP is working with the Majlis Agama Islam Perak through its investment arm, Perbadanan Kemajuan Ekonomi Islam Negeri Perak for this venture.

Now, a sneak preview into the MVP – Pfizer link-up. Both entities are no stranger to each other. A case in point is the work involving the Arthur Webster’s outfit.

The Industrial Collaboration Programme (ICP) with Pfizer coordinated by the Technology Depository Agency, is targeting to achieve this national aspiration of a global halal/ethical vaccine ecosystem.

For an idea of the road ahead for the human vaccine collaboration, in 2019,  there were 16.78 crude births per 1,000 people in 11 South East Asian countries. Prevnar 20 developed by Pfizer is a “suspension of intramuscular injection” given at months four,  six and 15.

In any case, our neighbours are racing ahead with human vaccine endeavours with two such facilities in Indonesia, three in Thailand, 1 each in Singapore and Vietnam.

Rashidah Ibrahim (fourth from left) and guests pose for the camera after the MoU signing ceremony