Patrick Tan Wah Yew
ASEAN Business Leaders: Give us an introduction of your company Yakin Medic Sdn Bhd?
Patrick Tan Wah Yew: Yakin Medic Sdn. Bhd. specialises in manufacturing cell and gene therapy related products. We aim to establish ourselves as one amongst the prominent players in improving the overall health quality of older adults and medical issues of aging. Although cell and gene therapies are considered ‘niche’ in Malaysia, we had already started our ‘Fibroblast Tissue Engineering’ twelve years ago. It took us several years to conduct clinical trials. We have successfully met the required standards and we are now getting ready for the market. Currently, we are in the early stage of building a laboratory and working towards commercialising the sale of fibroblast cells into the market.
In addition, we are also involved in the cultivation of Mesenchymal Stem Cell (MSC) and working in compiling patient registry for MSC. Our MSC patient registry is registered with the Clinical Research Centre and Malaysia Association for Cell Therapy (MACT) whereby our MSC patient registry’s exercise had been approved by the ethical committee. We have also set up a cGMP laboratory adhering to the stringent guidelines set by Malaysia National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA).
Apart from the above, we also research, develop and produce cell-based products which cover health supplement, aesthetic products and vitality boosters.
Looking back at our journey, Yakin Medic is growing slowly but steadily. We have handled more than 1500 patients’ cases, and none of them has any discomforts after our stem cell treatment. Our patients are very happy with the quality of our products and we have gain their trust and confidence.
ASEAN Business Leaders: How did the idea for your stem cell business come about?
Patrick Tan Wah Yew: To me stem cell is a miracle. That is why I am very committed in this business and will continue to invest in this industry. Yakin Medic is not a company that received millions of dollars investment. I committed myself to work on this project with very little funding. We generate our funds through patient revenues and we build the company from scratch. We have made our investments, and re-invested our profits into clinical trials, licensing and regulatory processes. We will continue to re-invest into the business by doing more researches in stem cell.
ASEAN Business Leaders: What is your vision for Yakin Medic and are you looking for strategic partnerships?
Patrick Tan Wah Yew: Currently, we are working on getting funds to build laboratories. It may take a while, but that is alright with us. Our business model is to grow and expand the business organically. I envision Yakin Medic to have its laboratory facilities and to be an active stem cell supplier in this industry. We are expanding beyond Malaysia now, since we have regular customers coming from Japan, Korea, the Middle-East, Indonesia, and Singapore. Our latest collaboration is with a hospital chain with branches in Pekan Baru and Medan in Indonesia. In Indonesia, we are trying to market our products by ourselves. We are looking into Indonesia’s regulatory framework, and once we get the green light, we will invest to build cGMP (good manufacturing practice) laboratories in Indonesia to local patients. We are also working closely with China. Partly because they are the ones who come out with many new products and we are looking into the possibilities of forming more joint ventures with them. Our on-going joint ventures are with the Beijing University, Tsinghua University and with some Malaysian Universities doing pioneer researches. There are a lot of opportunities in stem cell research and business.
ASEAN Business Leaders: What are the advantages do Malaysia have as a destination for medical tourism?
Patrick Tan Wah Yew: Malaysia is one amongst the most advanced countries that offers low-cost medical services. It is also one of the top medical tourism destinations, not only in Southeast Asia but the world. Many patients come from the Middle East during the summer for medical treatment. There are also patients from Japan, Korea, China and Indonesia. They will go to Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Penang and Johor Bahru for medical services. Malaysia medical tourism is rising gradually. It is expected to contribute about 5% of the nation’s GDP by 2020. I view stem cell therapy as a new regenerative addition in medical tourism, by that time our stem cell product would have already been registered with our government. We will only share our registered product with a few hospitals so that we can work synergistically in expanding our stem cell market. I foresee that an increasing number of patients are eager to experience the magic of stem cell treatment for wellness, anti-aging or therapeutic purposes. I believe our stem cells can help alleviate the agony related to arthritis and degenerative problem on kneecaps and joints.
ASEAN Business Leaders: What are the opportunities available in expanding stem cell to ASEAN region?
Patrick Tan Wah Yew: By 2020, we will see the people over 65+ number 46 million in ASEAN. This is 7.8% of ASEAN population. The fact remains that the absolute number of older people is growing rapidly. Life expectancy is high and increasing numbers of people are living to advanced old age (older than 85 years). The demand for regenerative medicine for this age group is increasing in tandem with growing older people. Therefore, I believe that stem cells have a promising future in ASEAN.