6/5 Taiwan Life Sciences Biweekly Newsletter
2023-06-14 |
| Taiwan Life Sciences Biweekly |
| Academia Sinica collaborates with Moderna to accelerate the development of mRNA technology in Taiwan 2 June, 2023 Academia Sinica signed a letter of intent for collaboration with COVID-19 mRNA vaccine company Moderna, aiming to complete verification work for a mRNA pilot research facility by the end of this year. This collaboration will assist in cultivating local talent and is expected to enable small-scale production of mRNA vaccines in Taiwan for industry and academia starting from 2024. Academia Sinica representatives stated that in late 2020 the institution established its first mRNA vaccine research team and planned to establish a mRNA research facility to supply mRNA vaccines required for early clinical trials. To accelerate the development of this technology, the facility is expected to complete on-site verification by the end of this year and commence small-scale trial production for industry and academia in 2024. More... (in Chinese) |
| Taiwan's biotech R&D energy surges, attracting attention of Big Pharma 2 June, 2023 Taiwan's innovative biotech research and development capabilities are increasingly gaining international recognition, attracting pharmaceutical giants such as AstraZeneca (AZ), Merck, Pfizer, and Moderna to seek opportunities in Taiwan and support start-up teams. The combination of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) with biotechnology and healthcare has become a trend, and with the upcoming BIO Asia-Taiwan conference and exhibition in July, international pharmaceutical companies are expected to lead forward-looking initiatives, sparking an investment boom and accelerating the integration of Taiwan's biotech industry with the international biomedical community. More... (in Chinese) |
| Anxo Pharmaceutical's psychiatric drug obtains pharmaceutical license in China 1 June, 2023 Biotech drug delivery technology developer Anxo Pharmaceutical (TW: 6677), announced that its psychiatric drug Mirtazapine Hydrochloride Capsules 25mg and 50mg had obtained the official drug registration certificate from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) of China. The 50mg dosage is the first drug enterprise to receive the registration certificate, marking Anxo Pharmaceutical's first drug certificate in China. More... (in Chinese) |
| Center Ventures aims to tap into trillion-dollar market for ADCs 1 June, 2023 President of Center Ventures, Mr. Rongjin Lin, announced that the company has joined hands with Mycenax Biotech Inc. to allow KriSan Biotech Co., Ltd. to transform and establish a one-stop CDMO service of ADCs for global business. After the repositioning of the industry value chain, Mycenax will be responsible for the design and GMP production of antibodies and provide the design of ADC drugs, while KriSan will focus on the design of small molecule chemical synthesis drugs and GMP production of ADCs. More... |
| Polaris Pharmaceuticals inks MOU with Vietnam National Cancer Hospital for liver cancer clinical trials 30 May, 2023 Polaris Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Vietnam National Cancer Hospital (K-Hospital) in Hanoi, Vietnam, to advance the enrollment of patients in a clinical trial for liver cancer in Vietnam. Polaris' liver cancer clinical trial is a precision therapy approach, in which patients will be screened for spermidine concentration or specific genes, and a total of 300 patients will be enrolled in Taiwan and Vietnam within two years. More... |
| Taiwan's NHIA and UK's NICE Sign Partnership Agreement to Advance Health Technology Assessment, Optimize Resource Allocation 26 May, 2023 Taiwan's National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) and the United Kingdom's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have signed a partnership agreement on 18th May 2023. Cancer remains the leading cause of death in Taiwan, and its incidence continues to rise. The rapidly evolving treatment methods for cancer have put a significant strain on the limited resources of the National Health Insurance system. To expedite access to advanced cancer drugs while also considering the sustainability of the health insurance system, Director-General Chung-Liang Shih of the NHIA, Director-General Chao-Chun Wu of the Health Promotion Administration, and CEO Shyr-Yi Lin of the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) visited NICE and officials from the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. More... |
| TaiDoc acquires a majority of stake of a pharmacy chain in the Philippines 25 May, 2023 In an interview after the shareholders' meeting held yesterday (24 May), Chairman Chao-Wang Chen said that with the contribution of the profits from the products related to the Covid-19 pandemic, TaiDoc Technology and its subsidiaries have about NTD$5 billion in cash, and in addition to short-term finances, TaiDoc will also acquire a small pharmacy chain in the Philippines in the near future, aiming to expand to 200 shops in 2 to 3 years. In terms of this year's operations, the company said that although revenue from anti-epidemic products had declined, sales of blood glucose tests would continue to grow by 3 to 5 percent, and with the launch of a new product, a ring-type sleep analyzer, in the third quarter at the earliest, the company was optimistic that it would still have a chance of earning a share capital for the year. More... |
| CytoAurora Biotechnologies' biochip technology receives international recognition CytoAurora Biotechnologies reported that the biochip patent technology developed by the company has been recognized internationally. The technology is a non-invasive inspection method that allows for repeated sampling without side effects, and can serve as an auxiliary tool for medical diagnosis. The technology has obtained more than ten international patents and received medical device certification from the Taiwan FDA at the end of 2021. Led by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2022, it was awarded the Digital Health category innovation award at the CES 2023 Innovation Awards in the United States, making it the only biotech company among its peers in the field of circulating tumor detection to receive such an award. Following this, in January of this year, they attended the Annual Healthcare Conference organized by J.P. Morgan in San Francisco, United States, surpassing elite participants from around the world and achieving an impressive second place in the RESI global rankings. More... (in Chinese) |
| Glyconex Biosimilar Enters Phase I Clinical Trials 24 May, 2023 Glyconex (TW: 4168) announced that the Denosumab biosimilar drug SPD8, developed jointly with Mitsubishi Gas Chemical from Japan for the treatment of osteoporosis, has received approval from Japan's PMDA (Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency) to proceed with Phase I clinical trials. The first case has already been enrolled. More... (in Chinese) |
| Steminent Biotherapeutics and Japan partner report positive results for Phase II Clinical Trials for Stem Cell Therapy for cerebellar atrophy 24 May, 2023 Taiwan's Steminent Biotherapeutics and Japan's REPROCELL Corporation announced that the results of Phase II clinical trials conducted in Taiwan and Japan using Steminent Biotherapeutics' allogeneic adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell therapy, Stemchymal, for spinocerebellar ataxia (also known as cerebellar atrophy or SCA), have shown promising results. Due to this, Steminent Biotherapeutics is actively planning for a public offering in September this year, listing on Taiwan's emerging stock market by the end of the year, and aiming for listing on the main stock exchange by the end of 2024. More... (in Chinese)  |
| Taiwan's DCB inks MOU with Vietnam for biopharmaceutical cooperation 24 May, 2023 In a bid to capture the US$6 billion to US$7 billion pharmaceutical business opportunity in Vietnam, Chairman Shiing-Jer Twu of the Development Center for Biotechnology (DCB) and the Vietnam-Taiwan Business Association (VTBA) announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly expand the biotech and pharmaceutical industries in Taiwan and Vietnam, creating a win-win situation for both parties. The MOU covers biopharmaceutical and CDMO contract manufacturing, smart and innovative medical materials, agriculture and health food, as well as cellular and regenerative medicine, said Mr. Chung-hsiun Wu, CEO of DCB. DCB will provide a full range of technical services and business promotion to assist Taiwanese companies to enter Vietnam and create the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market, leading the industry to quickly enter the CDMO, nucleic acid drug, regenerative medicine and cell therapy markets, so that the technology can be firmly established in Vietnam. More... |
| Biotech's Future in Taiwan 24 May, 2023 Taiwan is proving itself as a hub for advanced medical research and product development. A wide range of fields, including drug development, gene therapy, digital healthcare (DHC) solutions, drug delivery systems, and long-term outpatient wellness, are being studied, developed, and improved upon here. The presence of many international companies that have chosen to invest in R&D facilities in Taiwan is a testament to its broad appeal to members of industry and academia. Partnerships have been established with research institutions and companies in Asia, Europe, and the US. More... |
| Sanofi Accelerates Beyond Standard Healthcare Press release 23 May, 2023 The last few years have seen life-changing breakthroughs in digital healthcare, a field that emerged to support unmet needs in prevention and treatment. At the forefront of this development is Sanofi, a global healthcare company with about 100,000 employees in more than 100 countries and almost 40 years of operations in Taiwan. To translate science into life-changing medicine, Sanofi spent over 6 billion Euro on research and development in 2022 to create best-in-class medicine and healthcare solutions. More... |
| Ever Supreme Biotechnology to submit Phase I/IIA clinical trial application to the US FDA for its CAR-T product 22 May, 2023 Ever Supreme Biotechnology (TW: 6712) in a local presentation to investors gave updates to its allogeneic multi-targeted nano CAR-T product, CAR001, being only the seventh new drug in the world developed for allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy. Ever Supreme Biotechnology is also only the third company globally to use allogeneic CAR-T cells for the treatment of solid tumors. The company is planning to submit a Phase I/IIA clinical trial application to the US FDA as early as June this year, and aims to obtain international authorization from pharmaceutical companies in the future. More... (in Chinese) |
| Eternal Blossom Biotech updates progress on its amniotic fluid stem cell therapy for dry eye syndrome 22 May, 2023 Eternal Blossom Biotech in a development progress announcement, gave updates to its UB003 treatment of dry eye syndrome caused by corneal damage, using amniotic stem cells-derived factors. Animal testing conducted has confirmed that amniotic stem cell-derived factors can improve symptoms related to dry eye syndrome. The company plans to complete the preparatory work for clinical trials (IND) next year. Eternal Blossom Biotech stated that the dry eye pharmaceutical market is large and growing rapidly. According to a report by Global Data, the annual compound growth rate of dry eye syndrome is projected to reach 10.6 percent from 2018 to 2028, and the global market size could reach up to 10.7 billion USD (approximately 330 billion NTD) by 2028. More... (in Chinese) |
| PharmaEssentia's BESREMi recommended as drug of choice for polycythemia vera patients 21 May, 2023 PharmaEssentia (TW: 6446) announced today that the US National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has upgraded its new drug BESREMi (Ropeginterferon alfa-2b-njft, referred to as Ropeg) from "other recommended" to "preferred drug 2A" in the latest treatment guidelines for the treatment of adult polycythemia vera (PV). This development is expected to strongly boost the sales of Ropeg in both the United States and Japan. NCCN is a non-profit organization composed of 33 top cancer centers in the United States, including Harvard, Stanford, MD Anderson, Mayo Clinic, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Cleveland Clinic, and other world-class cancer medical centers. The expert team in the field of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) includes nearly 40 of the top MPN physicians and experts in the United States. NCCN's treatment guidelines are available for use in all medical fields globally and are continuously reviewed and updated to reflect the latest clinical data. They also provide relevant information to insurance companies to facilitate coverage decisions for tumor treatment plans. More... (in Chinese) |
| Adimmune's enterovirus vaccine to be available in July 20 May, 2023 Adimmune Corp (TW: 4142) announced that as the nationwide epidemic of enterovirus intensifies, the first domestically developed and produced enterovirus type 71 vaccine (EnVAX-A71) will be launched in Taiwan at the end of July. The completion of the Phase III trial in Vietnam is imminent, which will further expand the market for infants and young children in Southeast Asia and mainland China. The company revealed that in addition to the EV71 enterovirus vaccine, recent observations have shown that the frequent outbreaks of enterovirus in recent years are mostly caused by group A coxsackieviruses. Hand, foot, and mouth disease are also mainly caused by group A coxsackieviruses and enterovirus type 71 (EV71). Currently, Adimmune is actively seeking research institutions to jointly develop a bivalent vaccine for EV71 and coxsackievirus A16 (CA16). The company is also conducting research on a rapid screening test for enterovirus type 71 to assist in combating enterovirus. More... (in Chinese) |
| Medical AI Progresses by Leaps and Bounds 18 May, 2023 In a Northern German living room equipped with rustic oak furniture, this author掇 mother holds her smartphone as if it were a handheld makeup mirror for around a minute. She is then instantly relieved to find that her key vital signs are all within limits that do not require the 86-year-old to get on the phone to make an urgent appointment with her general practitioner. Since equipping her smartphone with the FH Vitals App supplied by Hsinchu [Taiwan]-based FaceHeart Corp., she has been measuring her heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, respiration rate, and stress index twice daily with a 60-second selfie video. Previously, she had frequently skipped her prescribed twice-daily blood pressure checks. More... |
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| Taiwan Bio Industry Organization (Taiwan BIO) Contact: Daisy Tsai Tel: +886 2 27836028 ext 14 FAX : +886 2 27836027 Mobile: +886 933-139647 | Line ID : daisy222 Email: daisy@taiwanbio.org.tw BIO Asia-Taiwan July 26-30, 2023 ============================== Taiwan Bio Industry Organization (TBIO) Room C229, Bldg. C, No.99, Ln. 130, Sec. 1, Academia Rd., Nangang Dist., Taipei, Taiwan (11571) ============================== |