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CRC CONTRIBUTES TOWARDS ACHIEVING 2018 LEADERSHIP AWARD FOR ITS EFFORT IN
MAKING MEDICINE AFFORDABLE

At the recent Global Submit for Intellectual Property and Access to Medicine in Marrakesh, Morocco,
MoH was awarded the 2018 leadership award for its effort in getting the world first compulsory licence
for Sofosbuvir, one of the direct acting antivirals (DAA) to treat Hepatitis C.

There are a few activities that MoH did that led to this award. One of them is the Investigator initiated
trial (IIT) on Hepatitis C at 4 MoH sites i.e. Selayang Hospital, Ampang Hospital, Tuanku Ampuan
Afzan Hospital and Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital, that CRC and CRM are responsible for. The principal
investigator (PI) is Dr Tan Soke Siam of Selayang Hospital and one of co-investigators is Dato’ Dr
Radzi Abu Hassan of CRC Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital. National CRC team at Clinical Trial Unit led by
pharmacist Mr. Chew Chun Keat, Dr Damenthi Nair and her team; as well as researchers from Clinical
Epidemiology Unit (Dr. Lee Keng Yee and Mdm. Delarina Firmawati) also contributed to the trial.

The contributions by CRC in this Hepatitis C IIT have become the “agent of change” that lead indirectly to
the compulsory licensing of Sofosbuvir in Malaysia and the signing of collaboration aggrement between
Pharmaniaga, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and Egyptian Pharco Pharmaceuticals
Inc. that promise to supply Hepatitis C treatment regimen for USD300.00 (RM1,245.00) in the public
sector in Malaysia, a much cheaper price compared to the current cost of up to RM300,000.00 for a
full course of treatment.

CONCLUSION
The year 2017 has been one of hard work but fulfilling. Overall, the strategies initiated by CRC from
its inception in 2000 have been very successful that CRC has always achieved its key performance
indicators so far.

Moving forward, CRC plans to (i) establish more local and international strategic linkages; (ii)
secure more competitive extramural research grants; and (iii) actively involves in the translation and
dissemination of research findings, especially into policy and everyday clinical practice, positioning
Malaysia as a preferred global destination for research and taking Malaysia closer to become a leading
clinical research organization in Asia.

INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH MANAGEMENT (IHM)

TALENT GROOMING PROGRAMME (TGP) 2017

Year 2017, TGP had witnessed a bigger growth and achieved a whole range of new achievements.
TGP is proud with eleven Talents who have successfully completed the program with outstanding
performance. The TGP Programme Completion Certificate Presentation Ceremony was officiated
by the Honorable Health Minister during March 2017 MoH Assembly. As part of TGP Talent Alumni,
completing TGP program does not mean that their responsibilities have stopped instead they must
begin to contribute back to the MoH and Malaysia with knowledge, skills and experience they have
gained throughout the program.

A total of 35 new Talents have been selected for this year bringing up the total of Talents to 120. Cohort
6 and 7 consists of various professions in the MoH with the participation of more professional officers

376 ANNUAL REPORT 2017 MINISTRY OF HEALTH MALAYSIA