Dr. Chang Hong-jen, chairman and CEO of YFY Biotech Management Company, cited healthcare spending in Taiwan and China to support the same argument of a growing strategic importance of Asia.

“People in China are willing to pay for medical services even though they can’t offer them,” he said, pointing to the critical support offered by the family and the community in traditional Chinese culture.

“There is a great opportunity for leveraging technology to biotechnology in Taiwan,” added Elka Nir, managing director, Giza Venture Capital, who drew a comparison between Taiwan and Israel’s “ability of developing new state of the art technologies.”

“In clinical trials, there are opportunities for Taiwan to become a gateway through Asia,” she continued.

Johnsee Lee, president of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) of Taiwan, however, noted that in order for Taiwan to become a regional center for clinical trials, local biotech companies and research centers would have to work on an international standard platform for the trials’ protocol, which hopefully could be completed before the next BioBusiness Asia conference.

The ITRI is the organizer of the two-day event, during which worldwide biotechnology experts discuss the latest developments and trends in the industry.

In the past six years, the conference has received full endorsement from the world’s leading biotech venture capitals and investors such as TaiGen biotechnology Co., Inc. (Taiwan), Giza Venture Capital (Israel), PAC-Link Management Corp. (Taiwan), and GlobelImmune, Inc. (USA).

Besides ITRI, BioBusiness Asia 2008 has additional co-organizers, including Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), Taiwan Private Equity & Venture Capital Association, the Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry, Taiwan Bio Industry Organization, the Development Center for Biotechnology, Ministry of Economic Affairs, the National Development Fund of the Executive Yuan, and Taipei Biotech Association.

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