3/28 Taiwan Life Sciences Biweekly Newslette
2022-03-30 |
| 1. Formosa Pharmaceuticals signs licensing deal for ADC drug TSY-0110 23 March, 2022 Formosa Pharmaceuticals (TW: 6838) announced that it had signed a licensing deal with EirGenix (TW: 6589) for the Formosa Pharmaceuticals-developed ADC biosimilar TSY-0110, with Formosa Laboratories to receive US$30 million in signing fees and milestone payments from EirGenix to receive the right to market TSY-0110. According to Formosa Pharmaceuticals, TSY-0110 is currently in late-preclinical development stages, with plans for CTA filing in the second half of-2022. TSY-0110 is an antibody-drug complex (ADC) biosimilar based on the Roche drug Kadcyla, the second-line standard treatment drug for HER2-positive breast cancer. The drug has been on a rapid growth path since it was approved by the FDA in 2013, with global sales in 2021 reaching 1.98 billion Swiss francs (USD2.1 billion), an increase of 16% over 2020, according to data released by Roche. But due to the high technical threshold for ADC drug development, no other T-DM1 biosimilar drug development in Europe and the United States had entered the clinical stage. More... (in Chinese) |
| 2. With arbitration win in the US, PharmaEssentia builds legal victories in its dispute with European partner 22 March, 2022 PharmaEssentia (TW: 6446) in an announcement this week said that the US Federal District Court of Massachusetts had issued a ruling consistent with recent German Federal Supreme Court related to a patent transfer dispute with its Austrian-based partner AOP Orphan Pharmaceuticals GmbH in the development of the blood cancer drug Besremi. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) had ruled in 2020 that PharmaEssentia should pay an arbitral award of 142 million euros (US$159.4 million) to AOP for invalidly trying to terminate a license agreement for the new drug. However a mid-February ruling by the German court agreed with PharmaEssentia's argument that the award was greatly inflated because it was based on incomplete information and procedurally flawed. According to analysts the US verdict is not unexpected, and it mainly respects the verdict of the German Federal Supreme Court. They further concluded that not only would PharmaEssentia likely be rid of the uncertainties of litigation, but it is also likely to switch from a legally defensive to more positive position in this dispute. More... (in Chinese) |
| 3. Bidirectional association identified for NAFLD and psoriasis 21 March, 2022 There is a bidirectional association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and psoriasis, especially for patients younger than 40 years, according to a [Taiwanese] study published online Feb. 16 in Frontiers in Immunology. Shuo-Yan Gau, from Chung Shan Medical University in Taichung, Taiwan, and colleagues retrieved data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database to examine the bidirectional association between NAFLD and psoriasis. Patients with new-onset NAFLD and psoriasis were enrolled in two cohorts; propensity score-matched controls with no NAFLD or psoriasis were included for each comparison cohort.More... |
| 4. Lawful Bases for Establishment of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database Challenged in Constitutional Court 21 March, 2022 The Taiwan Government long ago established the National Health Insurance Research Database – a database that widely collects patients’ health insurance data (including each patient’s diagnosis, time of medical visit, discharge time, and payments) and is extensively utilized for academic research. Currently, Taiwan’s Constitutional Court is reviewing the issue of whether the establishment of the database is constitutional.More... |
| 5. AmCad BioMed cooperates with Stanford Sleep Medicine Center in the US 18 March, 2022 The World Sleep Conference (World Sleep 2022) recently took place in Rome, Italy, with Taiwan’s AmCad BioMed and Stanford Sleep Medicine Center jointly publishing clinical results using non-invasive ultrasonic imaging to detect Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSA). Compared with traditional invasive endoscopy sleep center detection, AmCad’s technology showed consistent detection of apnea, and is expected to assist physicians in the diagnosis and treatment of this common and debilitating condition. About 10% of the world's population suffers from OSA, which affects physical health and energy levels, with the condition often undiagnosed due mainly to ineffective detection methods. Currently a sufferer needs to visit a sleep center for overnight testing for confirmation of this condition, with this inconvenience being a deterrent. However, AmCad’s medical imaging system AmCAD-UO can complete apnea detection within 10 minutes in an awakened state without overnighting. AmCad has teamed up with Stanford Sleep Medicine Center, one of the three major sleep medicine centers in the world, to carry out a two-year international study with 200 participants, across multiple ethnic groups. More... (in Chinese) |
| 6. Acer Medical signed a contract with Hong Kong’s Globe International to enter Hong Kong for ophthalmic AI-assisted software 17 March, 2022 Acer Medical (TW: 6857), a subsidiary of Acer (TW: 2353) Group, announced that it has signed a distribution contract with Hong Kong’s Globe International to sell its ophthalmology AI-aided diagnosis software VeriSee DR in Hong Kong. The VeriSee DR system has been successfully introduced into more than 60 medical institutions in Taiwan, serving 100,000 person-times to date, with medical device approval also obtained in Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. With India recently granting approval, VeriSee DR is now for sale in seven Asian markets in total. Acer Medical stated that Globe International distributes a number of internationally-renowned ophthalmic instruments and peripheral equipment, serving local ophthalmic care professionals. The cooperation between the two parties will leverage their respective AI and distribution strengths in ophthalmology to assist physicians in internal medicine and family medicine in Hong Kong to assist in the interpretation of diabetic retina lesions and improve the screening efficiency of diabetic eye disease. According to Diabetes Hongkong, there are about 700,000 people living with diabetes in Hong Kong–around 1 in 10 people on the territory–and is one of the major chronic diseases in Hong Kong. More... (in Chinese) |
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| [Taiwanese]7. Researchers evaluate predictors for mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients 17 March, 2022 In a recent Taiwanese study published in The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, researchers identified independent factors associated with early and late deaths in hospitalized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. More... |
| 8. Deal for more Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to be finalized soon: Minister 16 March, 2022 Taiwan's Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (???) said Wednesday that a deal for more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine could be signed soon, but did not provide additional details. "We are currently discussing a new contract" to obtain more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and it will "likely be finalized soon," Chen said at a press briefing. More... |
| 9. Adjusted co-payment plan for NHI medical services unveiled 16 March, 2022 Taiwan welcomes an announcement by American biotechnology company The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) on Wednesday issued a notice on adjustments to co-payments for medical services provided under the national health insurance (NHI) system. The publication of the notice is followed by a 14-day period in which public comments on the draft amendment to the National Health Insurance Act are invited. More... |
| 10. Ever Supreme Bio Technology’s Gamma Delta-T cells the first novel cell therapy approved in Taiwan 14 March, 2022 Cell therapy development company Ever Supreme Bio Technology (TW: 6712) announced that it had cooperated with Taiwan-based China Medical University’s affiliated hospital to apply for special approval from Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare for treatment of solid cancers using the company’s Gamma Delta-T (GDT) cell therapy products. These include for breast, lung, colorectal, renal cell, prostate, pancreatic, gastric, bile duct and eight other major cancers. Ever Supreme’s R&D team developed GDT immune cell therapy products in-house. GD is the strongest immune cell in the human body and has traditional T cell functions, but can also assist in the maturation of dendritic cells (DC) and activate natural killer cells (NK) and B cells. More...(in Chinese) |
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