Auvaro, who spent 10 years in Japan with European pharmaceutical giant Aventis before transferring to Taiwan says the Japanese government turned it's pharmaceutical industry away from manufacturing and toward R&D in the early 1980s. A decade later, the nation introduced a plethora of new drugs. Auvaro believes Taiwan could do even better.
Educated in North America and Europe and with strong connections in the areas where biotechnology is strongest, Taiwanese researchers have both the contacts and cultural skills to take the local scene global in a big way.
"Japanese researchers are more reluctant to collaborate with [Westerners]," said Auvaro, "and poor [English] language skills have also hurt them."
So poor were their language skills and "global outlook," Jap-anese pharmaceutical companies were nearly kicked out of North America and progressed very slowly in Europe, finally licensing their products to foreign firms. Auvaro sees a chance for Taiwan to develop new products and go global in a way Japan never could, as long R&D can move forward.
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