by Harriet Santhana
In 2013, inside a brightly lit pharmacy aisle, a young mother stood overwhelmed. Her infant son, barely a month old, had been diagnosed with severe eczema. His skin was red, cracked, inflamed, and painfully dry. While specialist after specialist prescribed steroid creams, moisturisers and careful routines, Professor Dr. Lai Oi Ming found herself confronting an unsettling truth: nothing on the shelves addressed the root cause of eczema. Most products are simply for moisturising. None truly targeted inflammation.
That frustration, born from a mixture of maternal fear and scientific intuition, became the first spark behind REMDII – a name inspired by the word “remedy.” The founders wanted something memorable, comforting and emotionally grounded, a name that would stay close to the hearts of the families they serve. Today, REMDII, a brand from Lipidware Sdn. Bhd., has grown into a Malaysian eczema-care brand that sits on retail shelves nationwide and supports tens of thousands of families struggling with inflammatory skin conditions. It stands not just as a successful commercialised university start up, but as a testament to how empathy, research and persistence can transform personal struggles into national impact.
From Personal Struggle to Scientific Discovery
Although REMDII’s products now reach clinics, pharmacies, chain retailers and online customers across the country, its origins were far more humble. When Prof Lai began exploring solutions for her son, the intention was never to commercialise anything. She simply wanted a safe, effective, non-steroid formulation that could relieve her baby’s inflammation without the side-effects or limitations of conventional treatments.
Supported by her expertise as a Professor of Fats and Oil Technology, with a PhD specialising in this field at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Prof. Lai Oi Ming and her research students, began experimenting with tocotrienols – a unique form of vitamin E that is sixty times more potent than the tocopherols commonly used in commercial skincare. They were later joined by Leow Min Min, who, along with Tan Peh Fen, holds a degree in Food Technology – a background that strengthened the team’s ability to translate scientific formulation into a safe, stable, and consumer-ready product.
The trio tested and engineered a formulation designed specifically to reach the dermis layer, where inflammatory processes occur, without entering the bloodstream. It was a scientific challenge that required both precision and creativity.
Three Founders, One Shared Mission
By the time the research was completed, the team realised they had created something entirely different, a moisturiser that was not merely a moisturiser, but what they now call their “smart formulation,” capable of deeply hydrating the skin barrier while addressing inflammation from within. The cream, due to the natural properties of the active ingredients, emerged as a distinct yellow rather than the usual white.
“People would ask us whether we put turmeric inside,” Leow recalled. “But once they used it, they understood – the colour actually comes from the active ingredients themselves. Some even came in saying, ‘I want the yellow cream.’”
A patent soon followed, and the university arranged a press conference to share their research findings. What happened next took the team by surprise. The team began receiving requests from parents looking for the cream, desperate for solutions for their children. The overwhelming response made one thing clear – the need was far greater than they had imagined.
Science That Targets Inflammation at Its Source
UPM encouraged the team to commercialise the product through its InnoHub programme, and in 2016, Lipidware Sdn Bhd was officially formed. Their formulation, backed by clinical evidence and protected by patents, became known for its ability to penetrate deeper layers of skin while remaining safe for long-term use.
Their “smart moisturiser” soon became a symbol of REMDII’s identity. Parents returning for more would look specifically for “the golden formula,” associating its colour with the product’s natural anti-inflammatory properties and effectiveness. What began as a scientific solution created for a single child had grown into a formulation that resonated with families across the nation.
The Challenging Leap: Innovation Meets Commercialisation
Innovation meets commercialisation is no longer optional – it is essential.
Bridging the gap between academic research and real-world application is the true challenge leap that transforms ideas into impact.
This initiative brings together a dynamic combination of expertise: Professor Lai, Ms Leow, and Ms Tan, whose complementary strengths span research excellence, strategic insight and commercial execution. Together, they form a powerful catalyst for turning university innovations into viable, market-ready solutions.
REMDII also warmly welcomes more university researchers with promising discoveries to step forward and explore the pathway to commercialisation. They believe wiith the right guidance, collaboration and industry engagement, groundbreaking research can move beyond the laboratory to benefit society, healthcare, and the economy at large.
In REMDII’s case, that transition was deeply hands-on.Their earliest batches were extremely small, fewer than a thousand bottles per run, and every bottle was prepared, labelled and tested by the founders themselves. Parents whose children showed visible improvement often called in tears, relieved to have finally found something that worked.
Yet as the business grew, so did the challenges of customer expectations, logistics and education. Many people did not understand eczema was a chronic condition and not something that could be “cured” overnight. Others questioned whether the cream contained steroids, especially when results appeared quickly.
Overcoming Bias, Stigma, and the Preference for Imported Products
This environment led the founders to establish the Malaysia Eczema Support Community (MESC), a Facebook group that has since grown to nearly 80,000 members. Through this community, the team conducted workshops, education sessions, consultations and even relaxed “Santai Sessions” hosted by Prof Lai twice every month.
These gatherings became a lifeline for parents overwhelmed by fear, shame or misinformation surrounding eczema management.
Their annual mental health programme, “Seeing the Unseen,” brings together psychiatrists, psychologists and families to address issues like caregiver burnout, bullying, shame and emotional fatigue. Through open sharing, parents and children confront the mental weight of eczema, often for the first time, and leave feeling less alone.
The founders realised that by empowering families with science-based knowledge written in accessible, everyday Malay, they were not only easing physical symptoms but also reshaping public understanding of eczema as a long-term, manageable condition – not a sign of poor hygiene or bad parenting, as some were unfairly told.
From Pharmacy Counters to 600 Retail Outlets Across Malaysia
As demand increased, REMDII’s distribution strategy evolved through multiple phases. Initially, parents purchased directly from their agents, but delivery delays of two to three days posed a problem for families needing urgent assistance. The team moved into paediatric clinics next, though onboarding was slow due to limited awareness. Independent pharmacies came after, pushing REMDII into roughly 200 outlets, but coverage was inconsistent from township to township.
Their momentum continued to build across pharmacies of all sizes. Despite their first major chain order arriving right in the middle of the MCO lockdown, a moment they feared would derail their progress, the opposite occurred. With widespread skin dryness, heightened allergies and increased irritation brought on by prolonged indoor living, demand for eczema care surged. The brand not only survived the pandemic; it strengthened its position.
Today, REMDII is available in more than 600 outlets across Malaysia and continues to grow across online platforms like Shopee and Lazada.
Stories of Healing, Hope, and Second Chances
The work, however, is not solely measured in sales or distribution figures. Some of the founders’ most meaningful milestones come in the form of heartfelt messages from families whose lives have been transformed.
One of their earliest sponsored cases was Ella, a young girl from the Philippines whose parents had died in a storm, leaving her with severe ichthyosis. REMDII’s formulation helped her skin heal, enabling her to live without discomfort and years later, she graduated from university.
Another story involves a Malaysian boy from a single-parent household. His mother struggled to afford eczema relief, and while REMDII helped him significantly, she could only use it during severe flare-ups. The founders decided to sponsor his care. Recently, he wrote to tell them he had received an ASEAN scholarship to study in Singapore – a message that deeply moved Prof Lai.
New Research Pathways and Clinical Trials Push the Brand Forward
REMDII’s reach has expanded far beyond eczema. Today, their products are used by burn victims, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, individuals with diabetic skin complications and those dealing with psoriasis. The team is also exploring several promising research pathways that build on their expertise in lipid-based formulations. These upcoming studies reflect REMDII’s long-term commitment to advancing dermatological science and developing solutions that address a wider range of skin concerns in the future.
Collaboration remains at the heart of their progress. In addition to UPM, partnerships with UKM, TARUMT and UiTM allow REMDII to deepen its research capabilities, diversify product lines and strengthen technological innovation.
Even with their scientific advancements, the founders continue emphasising the human element behind chronic skin conditions.
As REMDII continues expanding locally and internationally, the founders remain guided by a simple but powerful vision. They want REMDII to be the global first choice for eczema relief – a Malaysian brand standing confidently among international giants, recognised for its scientific backbone, clinical safety and heartfelt origins.
A key part of this future includes MYSTI, their structured education programme designed to help patients and caregivers understand and manage eczema more effectively. The founders hope that MYSTI will one day be adopted across government hospitals and clinics, allowing even more families to receive reliable, science-backed guidance as part of their standard care.
Their long-term dream is for the brand to become as synonymous with eczema care as Colgate is with toothpaste, carrying with it the pride of Malaysian scientific excellence.
