Research firm to be founded to promote bio-medicine

Initial investment in TaiMed, the new research company, totals somewhere between NT$500 million and NT$1 billion, sources said.

At least 45 percent of TaiMed’s capital will come from the National Development Fund under the control of the Council for Economic Planning and Development, sources added.

That is made possible under a biomedical industry development act which was passed on last Friday.

The act promises a long tax holiday, a shortened period of licensing new medicines and relaxed control over clinical tests.

Dr. David Ho, member of the Academia Sinica, is expected to head TaiMed, sources said. Known for his research on AIDS (acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome), Ho will get Genentech to transfer its biotechnology to TaiMed.

Ho was one of the first scientists to propose AIDS was caused by a virus, although he had never been able to isolate HIV (human immuno-deficiency virus).

Among an impressive list of seminal contributions to the field, he is perhaps most recognized for the elucidation of the dynamic nature of HIV replication in infected persons.

This basic understanding led Ho and his co-workers to champion combination antiretroviral therapy, including the use of protease inhibitors that has resulted in dramatic reductions in AIDS-associated mortality in developed countries since 1996.

That’s the reason why Genentech wants to ask Ho to head TaiMed to perfect cures for AIDS, sources pointed out.

“The timing is perfect,” said one Academia Sinica source.

Taiwan has only a decade to develop its biomedical industry, which sponsors of the new act believe would develop into one that brings in at least NT$1 trillion in sales a year.

Among the sponsors were Dr. Lee Yuan-tseh, former president of the Academia Sinica, and his successor Weng Chi-hui.

Tsai Ying-wen, former vice premier, and Wang Jin-pyng, president of the Legislative Yuan, assisted in the legislation of the act. In fact, the act aims at carrying on Operation “NT$2 Trillion Gemini” initiated in 2002 by Yu Shyi-kun, the then premier.

One of the twin projects, each expected to create a NT$1 trillion industry, was completed. Taiwan has a NT$1 trillion IT industry.

The other twin was the biomedical industry. It was a flop, because few entrepreneurs were interested.

That industry has US$800 billion in sales worldwide a year. Taiwan’s share is a mere 0.5 percent.

With TaiMed about to be inaugurated, at least three conglomerates are showing interest in the biomedical industry.

They include the Yuen Foong Yu, Formosan Plastics, and Uni-President groups. They are planning to set up biotechnology research firms of their own.

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