Former Vice Premier Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and AIDS research pioneer David Ho (何大一) will lead a new biotech company that will be jointly owned by the government and private investors to speed up the research and development of AIDS drugs, the nation's top economic planner said yesterday.
Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥), chairwoman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development, said the state-owned National Development Fund (NDF) would help finance the establishment of TaiMed Biologics Co (宇昌生技), which is planning to raise US$50 million in capital. Mo said the NDF plans to hold a 40 percent share in the company.
The government has authorized Tsai to assume the chairmanship and David Ho, a Taiwan-born AIDS expert and director of the New York-based Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, would serve as a co-founder of TaiMed Biologics, which would be a subsidiary of TaiMed Inc (台懋公司), a Taiwan-based biotech firm, Ho said.
Noting that TaiMed Biologics has gained patent authorization from US-based Genentech Inc for its lead clinical product, TNX-355, a potential treatment for HIV and AIDS patients, Ho said it marks a breakthrough in Taiwan's biotech industry.
She said the US company reported positive results in a Phase 2 clinical trial of TNX-355 and that a Phase 2b trial is expected to be conducted in the fourth quarter of this year in the US, Europe and South America.
TaiMed Biologics will be located in the Hsinchu Biomedical Park (新竹生醫園區) and will be the first enterprise to be set up in the park.
Other members of the TaiMed Biologics board of directors include Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠), Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), a Nobel laureate and former president of the Academic Sinica and Chen Lan-bo (陳良博), founder of Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp, a biopharmaceutical company.
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) yesterday expressed a downbeat view about the prospects of humanoid robots, given high manufacturing costs and a lack of target customers. Despite rising demand and high expectations for humanoid robots, high research-and-development costs and uncertain profitability remain major concerns, Lam told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan. “Since it seems a bit unworthy to use such high-cost robots to do household chores, I believe robots designed for specific purposes would be more valuable and present a better business opportunity,” Lam said Instead of investing in humanoid robots, Quanta has opted to invest