The National Health Research Institute (NHRI) yesterday unveiled a compound for treating diabetes, saying it hoped the new medicine would be available for patients before 2017.
NHRI officials unveiled the compound, known as “DBPR108,” at a press conference yesterday afternoon.
NHRI Division of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Research director Chao Yu-sheng (趙宇生) said that six local pharmaceutical companies would co-manufacture the compound and the Cabinet’s national development fund would support it.
Taipei Veterans General Hospital, meanwhile, will be in charge of the new compound’s trials to prove that it is safe for use by humans. The compound, once approved for use, will become the first “made in Taiwan” drug for diabetes.
PHASE I
“We are now at ‘Phase I’ of the trials of the medicine. There are four phases to the trials before the new compound can be authorized as a qualified diabetes medicine by the Department of Health in the future,” Chao said.
Chao said that trial stages for the treatment would cost approximately NT$200 million (US$6 million) and 85 percent of the cost would be covered by the Cabinet’s national development fund, while the six local pharmaceutical manufacturers would share the rest of the cost.
MORE INSULIN
The new compound, Chao said, would help patients produce more insulin. Patients suffer side effects such as skin ailments from currently available diabetes drugs. However, Chao said that such problems have been countered by the new compound.
Chen Cheng (陳正), the general manager of Genovate Biotechnology (健亞生物科技), one of the six local pharmaceutical manufacturers, said he was very optimistic about the new compound.
“I predict that this new compound will prove very profitable for us after it becomes an available drug for diabetes,” he said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai