KUALA LUMPUR (July 14): Duopharma Biotech Bhd said on Thursday (July 14, 2022) that the pharmaceutical manufacturer's brands will soon carry plant-only or plant-based tags include Flavettes, Champs, Proviton, Uphamol and Naturalle under Duopharma's collaboration with the US-based food technology firm The Live Green Group Inc (The Live Green Co).
"Through this collaboration with The Live Green Co, Duopharma is able to expand the number of plant-only wellness foods and plant-based pharmaceuticals that we can offer to consumers, thus expanding our market potential, while simultaneously reducing our carbon footprint from non-sustainable ingredients and under-optimised manufacturing processes," Duopharma group managing director Leonard Ariff Abdul Shatar said in a statement.
The statement was issued to reporters covering the Duopharma-The Live Green Co collaboration agreement signing ceremony here on Thursday.
According to Duopharma's statement, Duopharma's collaboration with The Live Green Co will see at least two reformulated products offered to consumers by 2024.
"Leading consumer brands that will soon carry plant-only or plant-based tags include Flavettes, Champs, Proviton, Uphamol and Naturalle, among others," Duopharma said.
Duopharma said the collaboration agreement with The Live Green Co allows both companies to explore the use of plant ingredients and technology to replace animal, synthetic and ultra-processed ingredients to meet consumer demand for more sustainable wellness foods and pharmaceuticals.
According to Duopharma, the collaboration will involve, among others, development, manufacturing and commercialisation of plant-only wellness foods and plant-based pharmaceuticals besides "manufacturing optimisation as part of Duopharma's environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiative".
At a press conference after the collaboration agreement signing ceremony on Thursday, Leonard Ariff said sustainability is the backbone of Duopharma's business.
"One area that Duopharma has been looking at very seriously is down to the actual raw materials that we've actually utilised in our production of our products," he said.
He said Duopharma will try to maximise the availability of domestically sourced plant-based materials despite ingredients for Duopharma's manufacturing processes being sourced locally and overseas.
"It's not an immediate solution because you need [to] scale [up] production of the necessary plant materials and you need standardisation and some level of processing.
"Our hope is that as we progress, there will be a lot of spin-off benefits from the work that we are doing not just for Duopharma but also for farmers and processors in Malaysia as well," he said.
Meanwhile, Priyanka Srinivas, who is the founder and chief executive officer of The Live Green Co, said in the statement Duopharma's commitment to a more sustainable future has convinced The Live Green Co that Duopharma is the right partner to become a large-scale change agent in the race towards mitigating climate change.
"This collaboration demonstrates the vision of two companies that believe in being large-scale change-makers in the space of nutrition and functional foods," she said.
At Bursa Malaysia on Thursday (July 14, 2022), Duopharma's share price rose four sen or 3.48% at 2.58pm to RM1.19, bringing the company's market capitalisation to about RM1.13 billion.
Duopharma's latest reported number of outstanding shares stood at 952.24 million, according to its Bursa filing on May 17, 2022.