A Golden Era For Taiwan’s Biopharma Sector
Following Tsai Ing-Wen’s landslide victory in the presidential elections of January last year, specialists both medical and financial began to talk about a golden era for Taiwan’s bustling Biopharma industry. Today, one year into her administration, early optimism seems to be turning into a reality, as biotech shares reach their highest level in three years and market insiders urge stockholders to take part in what promises to be a rewarding and long-lasting venture.
Former chairwoman and co-founder of HIV drug-developer TaiMed Biologics Inc., President Ing-Wen is no newcomer to the field. Her partner on the ticket, now Vice President Chen Chien-Jen, is an epidemiologist and former health minister who shares the President’s knowledge of the industry. Accordingly, since they presented an economic plan naming the biotech industry as one of five main engines for future economic growth, and described their vision of Taiwan as a biotech research hub in the Asia-Pacific region, members of the sector have reacted more than eagerly; this is an administration that not only understands the sector, but that has the political capital to affect significant change in terms of institutional support, subsidies and tax breaks.
Nevertheless, the now material consequences of the growing interesting Tai- wanese Biopharma development are not solely based on prevailing political sympathies. More importantly, there is already a highly-functioning and competitive infrastructure behind “a biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry (that has shown) hard-earned accomplishments”, as expressed by Dr. Dar-Jen Hsieh, CEO of ACRO Biomedical Co., Deputy CEO of the Institute of Biotechnology and a key figure in the development of the industry. In fact, the number of both clinical trials conducted in Taiwan and Biopharma companies has shown steady growth, performing well in the local equities market. 94 Biopharma companies are now listed in the Taiwan Stock Exchange and according to Matthew Fulco of Taiwan Business Topics, market capitalization in the sector grew from US$6 billion in 2009 to US$22 billion in 2015. Such figures prove Taiwan enjoys a vibrant industry and capital markets, world-class clinical trial capability, and a well-established relationship between the private and the public sectors. BioTaiwan, one of the largest biotech events in Asia, which will to be carried out in June this year, is further proof of the country’s role as a leading biotech hub.
TAIWAN INDEED STANDS OUT FOR ITS cost-effective and highly-educated workforce. THERE IS A HIGHLY FUNCTIONING and competitive infrastructure behind a biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry.
Taiwan indeed stands out for its cost-effective and highly-educated workforce. Executives and specialists have mostly been trained overseas and carry broad experience in Big Pharma mainly due to the number of strategic relationships with pharma multinationals through which Taiwanese companies have managed to expand beyond the limits of their small domestic market. Taiwan’s strong clinical research capabilities have brought about fundamental advancements such as pancreatic cancer drug Onivyde, which has received regulatory approval from the U.S. FDA, and the HIV entry inhibitor ibalizumab which the FDA designated as a “breakthrough therapy”. Both these drugs began their clinical development in Taiwanese companies.
Pharma Essentia
Among the biggest challenges faced by Biopharma companies, according to Pharma Essentia Founder and CEO Dr. KC Lin, is pushing through the protracted process necessary for the clinical development of a drug. Decades may pass from its conception all the wayto the implementation of phases I, II and III, throughout which a steady source of funding needs to be secured through private, public and academic relationships. “I consider ourselves a success since the whole process took 15 years”, says Dr. Lin, whose company is about to announce the final results on their research on Leukemia. The development and approval of the drug itself will take another year, having to go through different regulatory systems, namely the Marketing
Authorization Application (MAA) in Europe and the Biological License Application given by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States.
Their success, admits Dr. Lin, was partly due to the policies of promotion of the Biopharma industry put forward by the Taiwanese government during the last two or three years of the development process. In fact, the teamfirst came from the US to Taiwan in response to the government’s efforts to recruit talented sci- entists for the local industry. They saw it as social responsibility, to develop the biotech industry in their country and create job opportunities for local scientist. Nevertheless it was “the people”, as Dr. Lin admits, “the most important factor of our success, as we hire experienced people who have worked for 20 to 30 years in big pharmaceutical companies in the USA”.
Pharma Essentia keeps strictly environmentally friendly practices, takes care of pollution and sponsors yearly international symposiums on their field of research, the coming one to be held in Tokyo next year. In July they received their first public offer for investment for US$ 100 million, but Dr. Lin assures they are constantly looking for foreign partners or investors: “we frequently go to Hong Kong to showcase our company to try and attract more investors from outside Taiwan. We have not yet done so in the USA, but we are open to it”.
Operating in a relatively mid-sized market of 23 million people and with considerably high stakes due to the low success rates of Biopharma companies, foreign investment and association is fundamental to such an enterprise, but Dr. Lin is confident that the many medical and prestigious research institutes in Taiwan generate enough professional scientists to attract foreign capitalsand make the venture a success. “Taiwan has great investment opportunities because people are very intelligent and hardworking, and the government participates actively in the promotion of new drugs”, he explains.
And it is precisely in the development of new drugs that Pharma Essentia are focused on at present, planning to develop products over the next five years which can treat patients with many different illnesses. “We try to do everything from the beginning to the end”, says Dr. Lin showing great pride of the work being done by Pharma Essentia throughout the years: “our company is very special”.
Phalanx Biotech Group
The Phalanx Biotech Group is a one-ofa-kind company in Asia. They design and develop generic products with their own technology platform, and they boast the most industrialized system in Taiwan, which can manufacture more than 10 million generic products per year. “Most companies”, says Mrs. Sybil Yang, the company’s CEO, “are only distributors, but we are the original technology developers, which locally puts us in a very unique position”. And it is no exaggeration: the production line at Phalanx for making one single generic product is the most …at an industrialized scale in the world. According to Sybil Yang, such achievements owe a great deal to the country’s medical infrastructure: “Taiwan has the best people to study medicine, the best brands at the hospitals, great technologies, and a government that assists in controlling prices”.
Astutely, Phalanx Biotech has learned to use Taiwan’s world-class medical system as a bridge towards international expansion, commercializing in the Chinese market products developed in the US which American companies cannot commercialize themselves.“We are a great gateway”, explains Yang, “We are like a bridge to connect with China”. And tapping into this 2.3 trillion people market is no simple enterprise, as it involves competing in a country with tremendous government resources while maintaining an impeccable trade record in order to secure products from the US. “US people do not rely as much on China but they do trust Taiwan” - she adds.
In other words, the success of the company is built on its international relationships. “Collaboration is definitely important”, states Mrs. Yang, “because it helps making the product more affordable for people by reducing the costs of big labs and large amounts of data. Being able to export to other countries is what makes us competitive”. Today, Phalanx Biotech works closely with many partners in China and in Taiwan, particularly with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), which provides a force of 6000 researchers and more than 1000 patents per year in different areas of biotech.
One of the areas the company is heavily investing in for the coming years is that of generic testing. “Generic testing will play a very critical role”, says Mrs. Yang, who predicts that in ten to fifteen years the quota of funding spent in drug manufacturing versus product testing will be reversed, and the testing market will occupy at least 75 % of the healthcare industry. They have also started to focus on preventive medicine or treatments, which according to Yang also carries great potential for the future.
In a fast-moving and rapidly-advancing sector such as biotech, staying ahead of the curve is not only difficult but vital, and Yang feels confident about her company’s ability to adapt and grow. With a staff of 75 employees, excellent infrastructure and a vision to merge the efforts, platforms and resources of various other companies in an integrated system, Phalanx Biotech is ready to face the challenges of the future and to carry out its mission of helping transform Taiwan’s economy from a labor-intensive to a high-tech industry. “If everything goes well, in the next three to four years we will be playing a very unique role not only in Taiwan, but in China and Asia”- Mrs. Yang concludes
TAIWAN HAS THE BEST PEOPLE TO study medicine, the best brands at the hospitals, great technologies, and a government that assists in controlling prices.