BioBusiness Asia, a conference put on by regional governments and venture capital groups to promote collaboration between biotechnology firms from around the region, opened in Taipei yesterday.
Among the 24 pan-Asian companies invited to show off their research and business plans -- including companies from Australia, India, Japan and Singapore -- Taiwan fielded six, and pundits said they are among the best in the country.
"Initially, it was a long list. We had to reduce it during the screening process," said Johnsee Lee (李鐘熙), vice director of the Biomedical Engineering Center at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (工研院), a leading public-funded research group in Taiwan. He said around eight or nine companies from each country submitted their information to the conference coordinators and many were rejected.
In Taiwan, the criteria for gaining the chance to show off and possibly impress a major venture-capital firm was international contact. Lee said technology and international involvement were top criteria for the six firms selected from Taiwan to participate.
"Biotechnology, if you just do it locally, will not be very robust," he said. "We looked at Taiwanese companies in terms of leadership and technology, and most importantly in their international collaboration and investment."
Representing the best of Taiwan's industry were AbGenomics Co, Advanced Gene Technology Co (先進基因), AsiaGen Co (亞洲基因科技), ScinoPharm Taiwan Ltd (台灣神隆), TaiGen Biotech Inc (太景生物科技) and Vita Genomics Inc (賽亞基因科技).
Lee said the selection process was stringent because he hopes to make BioBusiness Asia an annual event, and ensuring that quality companies show up is the best way to do that.
"My ambition is to make Taiwan a window to Asia," he said.
International investors may not come to Taiwan just to see local firms, but a conference drawing the best from throughout Asia is worth their time, he said, "to discover the hidden dragons, the hidden biotech opportunities."
One pundit at the event pointed out that helping pay for the event also played a part in the selection of companies, as the event was paid for by venture capital firms touting their own portfolio of top biotech firms, as well as individual companies who won the right to present after sponsoring a portion of it.
Still, the same critic agreed that some of the Taiwanese firms, AbGenomics in particular, boasted interesting technology.
The company is currently seeking patents for two inventions that help in genomic and proteomic research, as well as for at least one gene the company has discovered, as well as the utility of the gene.
Companies patenting genes must describe exactly the function they are patenting, as their intellectual property is only protected under the uses they describe.
ScinoPharm, which produces ingredients for medicines, said it had moved a huge step forward by winning the US' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stamp of approval at its site last October, according to Hardy Chan (
With FDA approval, ScinoPharm can produce ingredients that will ultimately end up on store shelves in the US. The company will have to win approval again for every new ingredient it seeks to sell to US firms.
Three of the six Taiwanese companies made presentations at Biobusiness Asia yesterday. The other three will give presentations today, the final day of the conference.
Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of her Tesla Model 3 when she said she heard her father’s panicked voice: The brakes do not work. Approaching a red light, her father swerved around two cars before plowing into a sport utility vehicle and a sedan, and crashing into a large concrete barrier. Stunned, Zhang gazed at the deflating airbag in front of her. She could never have imagined what was to come: Tesla Inc sued her for defamation for complaining publicly about the vehicles brakes — and won. A Chinese court ordered Zhang to pay more than US$23,000 in
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
‘NO DISRUPTION’: A US trade association said that it was ready to work with the US administration to streamline the program’s requirements and achieve shared goals The White House is seeking to renegotiate US CHIPS and Science Act awards and has signaled delays to some upcoming semiconductor disbursements, two sources familiar with the matter told reporters. The people, along with a third source, said that the new US administration is reviewing the projects awarded under the 2022 law, meant to boost US domestic semiconductor output with US$39 billion in subsidies. Washington plans to renegotiate some of the deals after assessing and changing current requirements, the sources said. The extent of the possible changes and how they would affect agreements already finalized was not immediately clear. It was not known