The trailblazer leads Malaysia’s first unicorn biotech firm and advances cellular therapy innovations
Tham is the CEO of Alps Global Holdings Berhad, an integrated biotechnology company which the government announced earlier this year as Malaysia’s first biotech company to achieve unicorn status. Founded in 2008, Alps has been a formidable player in the global biotechnology arena and is slated to list on the Nasdaq later this year, with an anticipated enterprise value of about US$1.6 billion.
Contrary to his current work, Tham’s journey into biotechnology began in an unlikely place, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). After graduating in 1993 with a degree in medicine from Xiamen University in China, he then pursued integrated Chinese medicine and Western clinical medicine, specialising in oncology, at The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
He has been involved in ongoing extensive research on anti-aging cellular therapy since 2006. He works very closely with his Swiss and Asian counterparts in advancing the human understanding of cellular therapy and is eager to share his experiences in this field.
A firm believer in democratising healthcare by allowing more people access to early stage precise diagnostic and prevention, especially in cancer treatments, he actively participates in cancer research. One of his important scientific breakthroughs is the discovery of a penetrating tyrosinase inhibitor to reduce the production of melanin for skin beauty and whitening. He also described in a recent publication on the successful construction of a retroviral transfection system that could be developed as a means of gene therapy for hepatic carcinoma.
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