In 2005, the National Biotechnology Policy (NBP) was launched with the aim to make biotechnology as a new economic engine for the country. Among the many initiatives taken was to upgrade the three biotechnology cooperative centers (BCC) set up in 2002 into National Biotechnology Institutes in 2006. The BCCs were then named as Malaysian Institute of Pharmaceuticals & Nutraceuticals (IPHARM), Agro-Biotechnology Institute Malaysia (ABI), and Malaysia Genome & Vaccine Institute (MGVI).