8/15 Taiwan Life Sciences Biweekly Newsletter
2023-08-15 |
| Taiwan Life Sciences Biweekly |
| Biotech Industry Investment Continues to Rise, as Taiwanese Firms Seek Targets Overseas 10 August, 2023 Taiwan's biotech industry investment activity continues to rise, with several prominent companies recently expanding their overseas investment footprints. These companies include Bora Pharmaceuticals (TW: 6472), Center Laboratories, EirGenix, and others, all of which have either initiated or are about to embark on overseas acquisition plans. Specialty biomedical investment VC Diamond Biofund, which is busy establishing a NT$billion-dollar fund, expects that Taiwan's biomedicine sector will become a key player in international mergers and acquisitions. Diamond Biofund chairman William Lu stated recently that Taiwan's biotech total market capitalization has doubled over the past five years, reaching NT$1.56 trillion as of August 1st this year. However, when compared with other countries and regions, Taiwan's biotech capital market value is still relatively low. For instance, in neighboring Asian markets, China's biotech market value is about NT$33 trillion, Japan's is NT$16.1 trillion, Hong Kong's is NT$7.9 trillion, and South Korea's is NT$5.4 trillion. Taiwan only leads Singapore in Asia. More... (in Chinese) |
| Corium and Lotus Pharmaceutical Enter into Exclusive License Agreement for Innovative Alzheimer's Disease Treatment ADLARITY in Multiple Markets Across Asia Press release 10 August, 2023 Corium, LLC, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company leading the development and commercialization of novel neuroscience therapies, and Lotus Pharmaceutical (TW: 1795), a multinational pharmaceutical company, announced that the companies have entered into an exclusive Collaboration and License Agreement for ADLARITY (donepezil transdermal system), an innovative Alzheimer's dementia treatment, in ten markets across Asia. More... |
| Parallel drug licensing and National Health Insurance reimbursement application processes to begin in 2024: MoHW 8 August, 2023 A groundbreaking initiative in Taiwan's pharmaceutical regulatory policy, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MoHW) announced that starting from January next year it will adopt a parallel review system for drug licensing and National Health Insurance reimbursement applications, transitioning from a two-stage review to a parallel review system. This change is expected to have a significant and positive impact on the timeline for drug market entry and economic scale achievement. The MoHW estimates that after implementing parallel reviews for both applications, the review timeline is expected to be shortened by more than half, with a target review period of 12 months. Industry insiders believe that with such policy support, the growth of Taiwan's biomedical industry will accelerate strongly. More... (in Chinese) |
| ACRO Biomedical makes push into overseas markets 7 August, 2023 ACRO Biomedical (TW: 6748) announced that it is making a strong push into overseas markets, with international certifications secured for many of its biomedical material and dressings products. The company is currently in discussions for exclusive distribution partnerships with major distributors in the Philippines, Vietnam, and other markets. Coupled with successful establishment of its collagen products in the Chinese market, the company's operations are poised to enter a high-growth phase. Leveraging its proprietary Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (SCCO2) fluid cell removal technology, ACRO Biomedical produces various biomedical materials from pig tissue, including pigskin for collagen dressings, collagen biomembranes, and pig bone for orthopedic bone fillers and dental bone fillers. More... (in Chinese) |
| ABVC BioPharma to open new facility in Taiwan for manufacturing retinal surgery device 7 August, 2023 US-based ABVC BioPharma has received approval from the Science Park Administration in Taiwan to establish a pilot Good Manufacturing Practise (GMP) facility. This facility will be dedicated to producing Vitargus, an innovative product used in retinal detachment surgery. In addition to production, ABVC BioPharma will focus on refining their manufacturing processes for optimal efficiency. The joint effort between ABVC's Taiwan affiliate and co-development partner, BioFirst Corporation focuses on the enhancement of manufacturing processes for Vitargus. More... |
| Taiwan presents at APEC Health Working Group meeting in the US, taking lead on digital health issues 6 August, 2023 The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) recently held its second Health Working Group meeting of the year in Seattle, USA. During the meeting, Taiwan shared its expertise in utilizing technology for pandemic prevention and in telemedicine, expressing its willingness to participate in future digital health activities and receiving recognition from multiple countries. The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MoHW) released a press release after the gathering, stating that in this meeting Taiwan not only took on a strong leadership role in digital health issues, but also had its research team from the MoHW present the results of the report entitled "Study on the Use of Telemedicine to Promote Health Equity in APEC Region after COVID-19," introducing the concept of utilizing telemedicine to reduce health disparities in the APEC region. More... (in Chinese) |
| Taiwan to build a national CDMO company for mRNA vaccines and protein drugs 4 August, 2023 Developed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and co-organised by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and the Development Center for Biotechnology (DCB), "Taiwan Bio-Manufacturing Corporation" was recently registered and established with the current total capital NT$6 billion. The first phase of the company is to build factories in Zhubei, aiming to production of mRNA vaccines, nucleic acid drugs, protein drugs and cell therapeutics. More... |
| AI has prospects in smart healthcare: Barry Lam 2 August, 2023 Quanta Computer's Chairman Barry Lam revealed recently that he is still very optimistic about the prospects of AI, and indicated the development of AI smart healthcare has unlimited possibilities. Quanta has already deployed in the relevant fields, with EverFortune.AI and aetherAI as the two most notable companies that Quanta invested. EverFortune.AI is the first listed company in Taiwan to position itself as a medical AI company, has recently launched three generative AI projects, including one for acute brain injury detection, another for kidney disease and the other dubbed "gHi system" for medical records which was technology-transferred from the China Medical University Hospital. More... |
| Taiwan BioMed Industry Eyes US$32B 5 July, 2023 Biomedicine is a top priority for Taiwan, with the government aiming to position the country as the leading hub for biomedical research and development in the Asia-Pacific region. By 2025, Taiwan aims to create 20 new medicines, introduce 80 high-value medical devices to the market, and elevate the biomedicine industry into a trillion-NT-dollar (approximately US$32 billion) sector. The government has taken various initiatives, established biomedicines clusters and tweaked policies to achieve this goal. Has the effort paid off? How far has the country come to achieve its goals? Let's find out. More... |
| "Asia-Pacific represents a vast and relatively untapped market for Digital Pathology" 2 August, 2023 JelloX Biotech, a Taiwanese startup, is at the forefront of revolutionising cancer pathology by utilising 3D digital imaging and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. Its 3D imaging technology demonstrates potential beyond the field of oncology. In a groundbreaking paper published in February 2023, Dr Lin-Shien Fu and colleagues from Taiwan's Taichung Veterans General Hospital showcased the innovative application of their 3D pathology in analysing kidney inflammation caused by lupus nephritis. Dr Yen-Yin Lin, CEO of JelloX Biotech, highlights this new era in digital pathology, unveils the company's growth plans, strategic partnerships, and significant developments. More... |
| Asia Pathogenomics, Illumina signs MoU to further mNGS for infectious diseases 1 August, 2023 Asia Pathogenomics (APG), a subsidiary of TCI Gene, recently announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Illumina Taiwan, the global leader in next-generation gene sequencing, to jointly invest in the application of "Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing (mNGS) in the field of infectious diseases". By integrating resources and expanding the clinical field of mNGS pathogen high-throughput gene sequencing, they aim to accurately solve the problematic acute and severe diseases, and allow patients to receive early treatment within the limited time, thus laying the foundation for the future direction of accurate treatment of infectious diseases in Taiwan. More... |
| Biomedical investor summit to be held in spring 2024 in Taiwanem 1 August, 2023 The Dean of the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Michael Lu, revealed in an exclusive interview with media that Berkeley is joining forces with Stanford University and Taiwan's IBMI to plan the first "International Biotechnology and Healthcare Investment Conference" to be held in Taiwan as early as March next year, attracting international biotechnology investors from Asia and other venture capital funds to Taiwan to look for partners, hoping to build Taiwan into a biomedical hub for the Asia-Pacific. Lu recently came to Taiwan to organise the said conference. He added that the world's largest and renowned biotech conference, the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, is held in San Francisco in January every year, and attracts thousands of thousands of potential start-ups and international investors from around the world. He was inspired to help organise a similar healthcare investment conference in Taiwan as a paradigm for Asia. More... |
| Bora Pharmaceuticals Unveils New Facility for Ophthalmic Manufacturing 1 August, 2023 Bora Pharmaceuticals, a leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), is pleased to announce the opening of a new state-of-the-art facility in Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Officially opened by Bora Pharmaceuticals CEO Bobby Sheng and President of Taiwan Operations Tom Chang, the facility will provide Bora's customers with access to an extensive range of ophthalmic manufacturing services. More... |
| Johnsee Lee: Form a national team to target mergers, acquisitions, and alliances with US biomedical companies 31 July, 2023 Taiwan Bio Industry Organization (Taiwan BIO) Honorary Chairman Johnsee Lee in an interview stated that with the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry in the United States facing headwinds in recent years, with a sluggish stock market and fundraising difficulties, Taiwan should seize this opportunity to establish a national team for mergers and acquisitions and seek alliance opportunities. Furthermore, with Contract Development and Manufacturing Organizations (CDMO) a growing sector currently, and with the medical devices sector also growing, the industry, government, academia, research, and medical sectors would be well advised to integrate resources and establish a common platform, targeting the ASEAN market as the first step in securing winning opportunities. More... (in Chinese) |
| ASUS and Taiwan Web Service launches OneAI to accelerate medicine applications 31 July, 2023 The AI computing wave is driving global industrial innovation and transformation. ASUS (TW: 2357) cloud subsidiary, Taiwan Web Service (TWS), presented at this year's BIO Asia-Taiwan gathering, introducing its recent integration of the computational power of the Taiwania 2 supercomputer with the NVIDIA GPU computing framework to assist the biomedical industry in conducting medical analyses. Utilizing learning technology and flexible, diversified cloud data storage solutions, the company is propelling the development of innovative medical technologies and intelligent transformation. ASUS mentioned that since last year the group has been collaborating with NVIDIA to help establish an AI biomedical innovation center at Taiwan's National Health Research Institutes (NHRI). This joint effort aims to significantly advance AI computing in the field of biotechnology. And with a partnership with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) is integrating the entire process of AI application and biomedical engineering. This comprehensive integration caters to the needs of data processing, computational environment setup, AI biomedical model training, and technology tool development. The AI supercomputing platform is poised to accelerate the research and application of biomedical technology. More... (in Chinese) |
| Seven countries participate in BIO Asia-Taiwan's Regional Collaboration Forum program 30 July, 2023 A special Regional Collaboration Forum program was held at BIO Asia-Taiwan this year, with seven countries hosting their own forums over three days of the annual gathering, including Japan, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Lithuania, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The aim of the program was to give representative companies from each country the opportunity to present to the gathering, to strengthen collaboration with Taiwan's biotechnology industry, and to open up fundraising opportunities. More... (in Chinese) |
| Lukas Biomedical expands cell therapy footprint in Southeast Asia 30 July, 2023 Lukas Biomedical (TW: 6814) announced that it is planning to offer its core business of cell therapy technology overseas, expanding its presence in the Southeast Asian region. Currently, the company has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) for cooperation with hospitals in Thailand and Malaysia. Lukas Biomedical's core technology is based on the exclusive licensed technology LuLym-T from Japan. More... (in Chinese) |
| 15 Taiwanese companies rush into a boom of AI in healthcare 24 July, 2023 AI in healthcare has become the new arena for the technology sector. Following the footprint of Wistron, Quanta, ASUS, Qisda, Acer, and Inventec, the biomedical industry has also actively grabbed a share of the pie, with ONYX Healthcare, EverFortune.AI and Crystalvue Medical aiming at the intelligent healthcare, and iXensor and Bonraybio targeting the infertility market. 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) ========================================= |