KUALA LUMPUR: Felda Wellness Corporation Sdn Bhd (FWC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), expects to unveil its FWC FORMULAÉ product line by early next year, with an initial launch set for the United States market before Asia, Europe and Australia.
In its bid to expand global operations, FWC will open its North American headquarters in San Francisco in the fall of 2014.
The company, in a statement, said its recent visit to the 2014 BIO International Convention in San Diego in the US, was its maiden entrance into the world’s biggest healthcare and wellness market.
FWC, Felda’s new life sciences company, has previewed FWC FORMULAÉ to investors and other bio-tech firms at the 2014 BIO International Convention last month prior to an upcoming worldwide release.
The FWC FORMULAÉ line is the first in a planned series of new health and wellness product lines based on the company’s advanced technology platform and holistic wellness offerings for clients.
FWC said the product line is the result of a unique collaboration between the company and Neopeutics Inc, a US-based drug discovery contract research partner, driven by the need to explore and enhance therapeutic properties inherent in traditional Malaysian medicines.
The partnership combines FWC’s extensive access to cultural and biodiversity resources in Malaysia, and Neopeutics’ cutting-edge system biology-based drug discovery platform.
Neopeutics co-founder and executive director Dr Izza Jahari said the FWC-Neopeutics partnership has deep roots in Malaysia’s economic transformation into a knowledge economy, with both companies pursuing global ambitions growing from Malaysian roots.
“In fact, this partnership is seen as a model of asset-focused investment and collaboration, and as a key component of Felda’s transformation.
“This is a tribute to Malaysian entrepreneurship and innovation and a sign of what can be achieved with the right partnership,” she said in the statement.
FWC FORMULAÉ, a plant-derived therapeutic backbone, is expected to form the foundation of a range of therapeutic and nutraceutical products in FWC's future line-up.
Izza said FWC FORMULAÉ is the foundation for a therapeutic and nutraceutical product line, ranging from health supplements and metabolic support drugs to prescription medications.
Meanwhile, FWC is also partnering Gordagen Pharmaceuticals of Australia to develop novel supplements based on naturally occurring tocotrienols.