Local drug developer Orient Pharma (友霖生技) said yesterday its oral solution for excessive drooling is likely to be licensed to US companies by the end of this year.
In addition, a generic drug for diabetes is also likely to be approved by the US government by the fourth quarter and become the first generic drug for diabetes on the US market, Orient Pharma spokesperson Anita Chen (陳嬿娟) said at a biotechnology exhibition and conference yesterday.
The four-day Bio Taiwan is taking place at the Taipei World Trade Center.
Orient Pharma’s oral solution has completed the second phase of clinical trials and the results were presented at the 17th international congress of Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders in Sydney, Australia, last month.
The company said most people with central nervous system problems suffer excessive drooling and that according to a WHO estimate, the annual US market for central nervous system diseases is valued at US$70 billion and that for new diabetes treatments is about US$3 billion.
Meanwhile, local drug maker SynCore Biotechnology Co (杏國新藥) said that Veregen, its cure for genital warts, had received a permit from the government and will be on sale by the end of this quarter.
The company said it is also planning to become a listed company on the Emerging Stock Market, but did not provide a specific date.
HIGH EXPECTATIONS
Medical care equipment suppliers are also participating at this year’s event amid high expectations that they will soon be included in a government subsidy program.
In his opening speech at the event, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said that the government would include the development of high-risk medical devices into a subsidy program in an amendment to the Act for the Development of the Biotech and New Pharmaceuticals Industry (生技新藥產業發展條例).
The amendment of the act is set to be reviewed by the legislature in the September to December session, Ma said.
Total revenue for the local biomedical industry last year was NT$263 billion, up 10 percent from the previous year, a higher increase than many industries, Ma said.
However, most companies in the biomedical industry are small and medium-sized enterprises, Ma said, adding that the government aims to support the industry and increase its total output to NT$500 billion by 2020, with the revenue of each of the top five companies exceeding NT$10 billion.
Separately, Medical supply provider Nang Kuang Pharmaceutical Co (南光化學製藥) said its prefilled syringe, which is used to clean a central venous catheter or an implanted port, had successfully been used by National Taiwan University Hospital and Shin Kong Wu Ho-su Memorial Hospital.
“The Bureau of National Health Insurance is likely to agree to cover the cost of our prefilled syringe by next quarter,” Nang Kuang sales director Song Chih-jen (宋智仁) said.
The prefilled syringe cuts risks of contamination when cleaning a patient’s central venous catheter or implanted port, Song said.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong