On April 25, 2025, BIOTEC welcomed delegates led by Ms. Sumalee Kristarnin, Country President, Novartis Thailand to Thailand Science Park to celebrate an 18-year partnership dedicated to discovering novel drugs from natural products. The Agreement, which began in 2005, has been extended 5 times thanks to its continued success and impact.
The event featured keynote speakers Dr. Frank Petersen, Executive Director of Natural Products and Biomolecular Chemistry (NPBC), Global Discovery Chemistry, Novartis on the topic “Evolution of Natural Product Research” and Dr. Kanyawim Kirtikara, Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi and Former Executive Director of BIOTEC on the topic “A Journey Revisited: Reflecting on a 21-Year Journey with Novartis”. Attendees also heard from BIOTEC scientists about the achievements and impact of this collaboration.
Since 2005, Novartis and BIOTEC have joined force to evaluate thousands of microbial isolates including fungi and actinomycetes. The transfer of knowledge on the isolation and identification of actinomycetes which is the major source of modern medicines led to the establishment of BIOTEC’s expertise in this area, and significantly enhanced the biodiversity of BIOTEC Culture Collection.
The collaborative endeavors have extended to investigating natural product potential of the Gram-negative bacteria, genome mining and synthetic biology to accelerate the discovery of novel natural products. A cornerstone of the partnership has been human resource development. Eighteen BIOTEC scientists have been trained through internships at Novartis facilities or on-site training in Thailand.
This long-standing partnership is a testament to shared vision, mutual respect, and scientific excellence.