A top researcher credited with developing a drug to treat Pompe disease was released on NT$600,000 (US$20,000) bail late on Tuesday after being questioned in a corruption investigation.
Chen Yuan-tsong (陳垣崇), director of Academia Sinica's Institute of Biomedical Sciences, did not comment as he was leaving the Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office.
Chen is suspected of transferring his patented technologies for producing genetic-based diagnostic tests to Phamigene — a biomedical company in which he serves as honorary founder — which then sold two test products to Academia Sinica through two government procurement bids for a total value of NT$15 million.
Prosecutors said Chen's wife is also a manager at the company.
Under the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法), procurement staff or supervisors are obliged to withdraw if they or their spouse, relatives by blood or by marriage within the third degree, or other relatives who live with and share the property with them, have vested interests in the procurement.
Prosecutors said Chen might have violated the act and was under investigation.
Chen's wife has also been questioned as a witness, the prosecutors added.
Academia Sinica spokesman Yeh Yih-hsiung (葉義雄) said the institute “respects and will cooperate with the prosecution's investigation.”
Local media reports have quoted Chen as saying, in his defense, that he has never paid attention to procurement and money matters and focused on conducting research.
Chen said that as the inventor of the patented genetic tests, he thought he should be in charge of their development and manufacturing to ensure efficiency. With that in mind, he said, he authorized Phamigene to commercialize the tests, according to the media reports.
Chen, 62, is a distinguished research fellow at Academia Sinica. He is best-known for his treatment, named Myozyme, for Pompe disease.
Chen's research inspired Harrison Ford's movie Extraordinary Measures.
The movie tells the story of parents who formed a biotechnology company to develop the drug to treat the rare life-threatening metabolic disorder.
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