If the government is sincere about boosting the biotechnology sector, it needs to cut the red tape stifling development, industry insiders said yesterday.
"Taiwan's government requires new drugs, even locally developed ones, to obtain approval from at least one other country before applying for domestic permission," said Chen Kuang-chi (
"Such a requirement seems to indicate that the government lacks confidence in domestically developed pharmaceutical products," Chen said.
Maywufa Bio-Pharmaceutical is a Taipei-based company with businesses covering pharmaceutical research and development, drug distribution and drugstore chains. Its revenues reached NT$3.5 billion last year.
Chen said the industry hopes the regulatory authorities will abolish such unreasonable regulations for the sake of nurturing the nation's developing biotech industry.
The government said in 2002 that it would spare no efforts to promote the biotech industry, making it one of the key sectors of the government's "Two Trillion, Two Star" (兩兆雙星) investment plan for the next 10 years. Other sectors include semiconductors, flat-panel displays and digital content industries.
Annual revenues in the fledgling biotech industry rose 13 percent to NT$125.6 billion last year from NT$110.9 billion the previous year, according to figures provided by the Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Industries Program Office (BPIPO) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The government plans to pour NT$150 billion into the sector by 2006, hoping the investment can help boost annual revenues 25 percent a year to NT$250 billion by 2006, said William Chung (
Taiwan is one of several Asian countries where international biotech companies are considering possible business opportunities.
"Asia, with a population of 3.23 billion, is a market of huge potential for the industry," said Jonathan Watters, senior vice president of BioPro Pharmaceutical Inc, a Waikanae, New Zealand-based pharmaceutical R&D and marketing company.
Asia's market, excluding Japan, could be worth US$30 billion next year, with China making up 34 percent of the total, Watters said, and Taiwan 14 percent.
However, the variation in regulations between countries in the region make it more costly for companies to get drugs approved.
"One decision [for new drugs] can then become effective in 23 countries in the European Union, starting from this July," Watters said.
The industry, he added, was hoping Asian countries could harmonize regulatory requirements or recognize drugs approved elsewhere.
This is unlikely, even in the next few decades, as such a move would reduce countries' autonomy, said Chen Chei-hsiang (陳啟祥), director of BPIPO.
In the absence of regulatory harmonization, companies could encourage mutual recognition of their drugs by undertaking clinical trials for new drugs, a necessary process ahead of application, in several countries at the same time, Maywufa's Chen said.
"The result of scientific experiments would speak for us," Chen said. "And we expect cross-border efforts by the private sector to stimulate change in the official sector."
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last