TaiMed documents reveal gov't secrecy

TaiMed Biologics Co. (or Yu Chang Biotech Co., 宇昌生技公司, also known as 中裕 since 2009), the said pharmaceutical concern, was co-founded and chaired briefly by the DPP's current chairwoman and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen after she stepped down as vice premier. Tsai is alleged to have pressed for government earmarks to benefit her company while she was Premier Su Tseng-chang's deputy.

'Top-secret' Memoranda

Tsai allegedly pulled this off quickly in February 2007, thanks to two “top-secret” memoranda presented to Su and Tsai by Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥), then a minister without portfolio, who suggested in her memoranda that the government inject money into a proposal for the joint development of TNX-355, a drug to treat AIDS by Genentech, a member of the Roche Group of Switzerland, and a new partner. The said new partner, which turned out to be TaiMed Biologics Co., had not even filed an application.

But another company had, and it even had matching funds ready when its same proposal was rejected by Su's Executive Yuan in March, a month after the yet-to-be-born company's proposal was accepted.

In 2005, Harvard-trained biochemists Nancy Tang (唐南珊), representing a pharmaceutical concern called South China Biotech (or Nan Hua Biotech, 南華生技), applied to the Executive Yuan's National Development Fund (NDF) for financial help to the tune of NT$1.7 billion in its development of the same drug in Taiwan. The Executive Yuan was said to be in favor of the company's proposal because, among other things, TNX-355 was developed by Tang, until Ho's top-secret memoranda, the purpose of which may have been to keep Tang and her company in the dark, the sources speculated.

Former Legislator Kao Yu-jen (高育仁), who helped Tang to apply for funding, actually had lined up financial resources to fund a new pharmaceutical company devoted to the production of the drug, but had to throw in the towel in May of 2007 when the Executive Yuan issued an official rejection two months after it had made up its mind to side with the hastily founded new company, said the sources.

In 2007, the Executive Yuan announced it would use money from the NDF to obtain a 40-percent stake in TaiMed, a biotech startup specializing in drugs for HIV/AIDS.

In an interview, Kao complained that the Executive Yuan had sat on Tang's proposal for two long years from 2005 till 2007, while its decision to inject money into the other proposal had taken a mere six days to make. Now he understands why, the sources said.

Suspicious Timing

The timing of Ho's top-secret memoranda also has aroused suspicion. When Ho sent her memo to Su and Tsai, Genentech and Tanox, a company founded by Tang, was about to join forces as the two were in the middle of a round of merger talks, sources said, adding somebody might know the talks were going smoothly and wanted to forestall a possible favorable outcome, hence the haste with which the capital injection decision was made and the need for secrecy.

Sidestepped Processes

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