The government-funded Development Center for Biotechnology (DCB, 生物技術開發中心) on Wednesday announced major initiatives in support of the government’s plan to create a trilliondollar-industry, as it did with semiconductors.
The center is to complete its relocation to the National Biotech Research Park, where it is to be joined by other government agencies and research institutes, including the Academia Sinica, the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration, and the National Laboratory Animal Center, creating a vital cross-departmental hub to service Taiwan’s upcoming biotechnology firms, newly appointed DCB president Herbert Wu (吳忠勳) said.
The DCB also plans to set up a commercialization office that would assist in transferring biotechnology findings by research institutes funded by the government to prospective investors and firms aiming to develop new products that could be brought to market.
An example would be the technology transfer agreement that the center inked with Chung Mei Biopharma Co Ltd (中美生技醫藥) last year, which aims to commercialize a botanical drug to treat melanoma.
Most notably, the commercialization office would lend its expertise to help companies devise their intellectual property strategies and navigate through patents held by competitors, DCB vice president Chang Chi-feng (張綺芬) said.
The commercialization office would become a one-stop shop for services that would help companies overcome bottlenecks in clinical trial design, legal counsel, and research and management talent recruiting, as well as finding partnership opportunities around the world, Chang said.
The center’s Nangang Biotech Incubation Center (南港生技育成中心) has initiated an acceleration program for digital health start-up companies by creating a network of business mentors, financial planners and investors.
Regarding the emerging digital health industry, Wu said that the passage of the US’ 21st Century Cures Act in 2016 has laid the foundations for revamping the global healthcare space as more data collection from wearable and mobile devices allow pin-point treatments.
The center has also partnered with US-based Insilico Medicine to use artificial intelligence to shorten the development cycle for cancer treatments, Wu added.
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