Having developed one of the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines, AstraZeneca (AZ) has certainly become a household name in Malaysia. However, it must be noted that AZ now does much more than just develop vaccines.

On 17 November 2021, AZ visited Sunway University to: 1) explore areas of potential research collaborations anchored in global heath; 2) offer a 14-week internship programme to university students; and 3) jointly organise a Nobel Prize Outreach event.

Leading the team of AZ researchers was Dr Ashwini Saha, the Medical Affairs Director of AZ Malaysia. On Sunway’s end, Professor Sibrandes Poppema, President of Sunway University hosted the visitors along with researchers mainly from the School of Medical and Life Sciences (SMLS). AZ explained how they have shifted from their traditional focus on treatment to improve the entire patient experience, which includes diagnosis, treatment and post-treatment. As such, AZ presented three main therapy areas where they would like to work with Sunway researchers namely in Oncology, Severe Asthma, Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism.

Sunway University firmly believes that their academics should strive to answer problem-oriented research questions from the industry. With AZ having identified their priority research areas, SMLS has subsequently identified co-leads to work with AZ researchers to develop more focused research questions that are not tied to the three themes, but also have cross-cutting horizontal research strands in health-behavioural economics as well as mental health.

Discussions are well underway and bilateral talks have so far generated ideas and concept notes that can be developed into full-fledged grant proposals. These are exciting times for both Sunway and AZ so watch this space as research in the field of medical and life sciences in Malaysia is about to get a real boost!

Professor Gopalasamy Reuben Clements
School of Medical and Life Sciences
Email: @email