9/19 Taiwan Life Sciences Biweekly Newsletter
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| Taiwan Life Sciences Biweekly |
| 1. Behavioral Telehealth Faces Growth Barriers 15 September, 2022 The increasing need for therapy and pandemic restrictions have spurred the growth of remote counseling. In Taiwan, clinicians and entrepreneurs battle bureaucratic barriers to reach those in need of care. More... |
| 2. ASUS announces smart medical care developments 15 September, 2022 ICT giant ASUS (TW: 2357) is increasing its focus on the burgeoning smart medical market, with an announcement this week that its handheld ultrasound solution LU700 / LU710 now supports four major operating systems: iOS, Android, Windows, and ChromeOS. Chang Chuan-Te, ASUS vice president, said that with the addition of the Windows and ChromeOS operating systems to the LU700 / LU710 solution, the company hopes to bring the convenience of handheld ultrasound to even more medical institutions, telemedicine service providers, and teaching and research units. In the medical arena, ASUS currently focuses on preventive health care, digital diagnosis, telemedicine, and other smart medical care products and solutions. More... (in Chinese) |
| 3. Thermo Fisher Scientific Collaborates with Taiwan Precision Medicine Initiative to Genotype 1 Million People in Taiwan 13 September, 2022 Thermo Fisher Scientific partners with the Taiwan Precision Medicine Initiative (TPMI) to advance the next phase of the large-scale predictive genomics study and support its goal of genotyping 1 million people in Taiwan. TPMI reached the milestone of enrolling more than 500,000 participants in July, making it the largest study of its kind outside of the United States and Europe. More... (in Chinese) |
| 4. OBI Pharma's new anti-cancer drug receives US FDA approval to begin clinical trials 10 September, 2022 OBI Pharma (TW: 4174), together with its subsidiary AP Biosciences, announced that its new bispecific antibody anti-cancer drug AP203 has been approved by the US FDA to begin Phase I clinical trials. AP203, developed by AP Biosciences, is a second-generation cancer immunotherapy targeting PD-L1 and CD137. More... (in Chinese) |
| 5. Taiwan's CDMO industry looks to capture a slice of growing international market 10 September, 2022 The Taiwan government announced recently that it will take the lead in investing in biomedical CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) companies, and at the same time strengthen international ties to the industry. With the recent growing worldwide CDMO utilization, Taiwan's CDMO operators are looking to capture a slice of the market by expanding production capacity. And through recent mergers, acquisitions and an increase in strategic cooperation agreements, the size of this business in Taiwan is growing rapidly. There are two major areas of focus for CDMO factories: mature products that need to be manufactured in large quantities, and niche advanced therapy products. But although Taiwan's CDMO companies have actively expanded their production capacity, they still cannot compete with the scale of South Korea's CDMO operators, such as Samsung Biologics. More... (in Chinese) |
| 6. Taiwan's Constitutional Court Mandates Clear Rules for Academic Usages of Health Data 6 September, 2022 More than two decades ago, the Taiwanese government established the National Health Insurance Research Databank. The Databank widely collects patients' health insurance data, including each patient's diagnosis, time of medical visits, discharge time, and payments. Such data are extensively utilized for academic research. More... |
| 7. TaiwanBio Therapeutics announces progress for its new drugs for knee arthritis, diabetic foot ulcers, and acute myocardial infarction 6 September, 2022 TaiwanBio Therapeutics (TW: 6892), in a press announcement gave an update on its regenerative medicine pipeline, focused on the development of new allogeneic stem cell treatments. The company uses four unique patented technology platforms including the 'potency screening platform', 'cell bank expansion platform', 'genetic engineering platform' and 'potency induction platform' to develop a variety of cell-based medical products. Three new drugs for non-modified mesenchymal stem cells have entered clinical trials. Among them are Chondrochymal, a new drug for knee osteoarthritis, and Biochymal, a new drug for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers, which have both entered Phase II clinical trials in Taiwan. Additionally, a new drug for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction, TWB-201, has been approved by the TFDA for Phase I clinical trials. Chondrochymal is expected to complete clinical trials in 2023, with a chance to receive marketing approval in 2024. More... (in Chinese) |
| 8. Quark Biosciences recruits international talent to head up new subsidiaries 6 September, 2022 Quark Biosciences announced this week that in order to better focus on its business goals and accelerate the expansion of the precision medicine market, it had established two new subsidiaries, Inti Labs and Pharus Dx, and had recruited international talents to head the new entities. Johnsee Lee, chairman of Quark Biosciences, said that the newly-established Inti Labs focuses on reproductive medicine applications, while Pharus Dx focuses on early cancer screening via genetic testing. Lee said that Quark Biosciences will continue to optimize its multi-gene detection technology platform and develop a more diverse product line. Additionally, with the new subsidiaries, Quark Biosciences will be better positioned to enter the international precision medicine market. More... (in Chinese) |
| 9. Advantech joins hands with Microsoft to launch the world's first cloud-based smart ward 6 September, 2022 Advantech (TW: 2395), a major IoT (internet of things) company, has recently extended its iWard smart ward solution and iTeleMed telemedicine solution to the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform, the world's first such cloud-based smart ward system. With the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, smart medical solutions can now be operated in the cloud. In addition, because both Microsoft Azure and Advantech Smart Healthcare solutions are HIPAA and GDPR compliant, medical institutions can use online services without the usual concerns over data access, information security and scalability. More... (in Chinese) |
| 10. BTC to meet to set the course for Taiwan's biomedical industry direction 3 September, 2022 The Bio Taiwan Committee (BTC), a bio-industry development advisory group to the government, will hold its annual meeting September 5th to 7th. Topics focused on will include the precision health industry, emerging fields such as regenerative medicine and digital health, and the growing CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) sector. Pan-Chyr Yang, Vice President and Academician at Academia Sinica, Taiwan's leading research institute and a member of BTC, said that promoting so-called 'smart medical care' will be key to the development of Taiwan's precision health industry. At present, industry, government, academia, and the medical community have been working hard to build capacity and expertise in this area. Furthermore, by cooperating with overseas-based 'smart hospitals', Taiwan's smart medical care can reach an international standard. More... (in Chinese) |
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| Taiwan Bio Industry Organization | TEL: 886-27836028 | Email: biotaiwan@gmail.com |