Summary of the 2011 Taiwan Biotech Forum - Edward Wan, CAPA President

The 2011 Taiwan Biotech Forum, which took place on June 26, 2011 at the Crowne Plaza Rockville in Rockville, Maryland, turned out to be a big success in every aspect from planning through execution. The Forum provided an excellent opportunity for personal interaction and exchange of information.

This Forum was the first International conferences in 2011 that CAPA helps organize. As a co-sponsor, CAPA has been involved from the beginning for the planning of the event. Communications through multiple teleconferences and emails, we were able to help Development Center for Biotechnology in Taiwan (DCB) to develop the agenda and to recruit moderator and speakers from the US. From the experience of working closely with DCB, we have learned a lot in terms of the complexity of the planning and the need for collaboration with other organizations in organizing an international conference. Most importantly, we have successfully achieved two important goals: the first goal is to continue our efforts to connect with Taiwan in terms of fostering intellectual collaboration and interaction. The second goal is to create future pipeline for CAPA by engaging younger generation to participate at our function. We are very pleased with the large turnout at the Forum and the opportunity to interact with other participants and graduate students from the Johns Hopkins University- both are potential sources for our future growth.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all those who came to support the event. In particular, I appreciate the unwavering support of several CAPA members: George Chang (planning), Esther Chang (recruiting speakers), Chen Cheng –Tyng (photography), and Alex Lin (on-site Coordination). On behalf of CAPA, I also want to express my heartfelt thanks to Apo Huang and Jenny Jang, two of the unsung heroes from DCB for their dedication and hard work. The event was extremely well organized by DCB and brought out some of the best talents from Taiwan. CAPA enjoyed working with DCB and appreciated the supports from TECRO Science & Technology Division (James Chang and Pauline Lin) and eight volunteers from John Hopkins University. Without their supports, the success of this event would not have been possible.

Forum Participation

Over 220 people attended the Forum, including representatives from government, industry, and academia from both the US and Taiwan. The delegations from Taiwan included representatives from DCB, Science and Technology Advisory Group of Executive Yuan (STAG), National Research Program for biopharmaceuticals (NRPB), Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Minister of Economic Affairs (MOEA), Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAIRA), National Science Council (NSC), Department of Health (DOH), Academia Sinica, Taiwan Trade Center in New York, Metal Industries R&D Development Centre and Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Offices (TECRO) and National Centers of Excellence for Clinical Trial & Research/National Taiwan University. Representatives of private enterprises from Taiwan included QPS, TaiGen, TWI Biotechnology Inc., Life Technologies, Bio Taiwan, PharmaEssentia, Ricerca, RDD Labs, Inc, Simpson Biotech Co., Ltd etc., In addition, representatives from other Asian countries included Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation (FBRI) in Japan and comprehensive Drug Enterprises in Hong Kong.

From the US side, representatives included Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Institute of Health (NIH), National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST), Export-Import Bank of the Unites States, Chinese American Professionals Association (CAPA), Monte-Jade –DC, Naval Medical Research Center, Duck University, Howard University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland, Georgetown University School of Medicines, George Mason University, American Cancer Society, Maryland State House of delegation, Maryland State Center for Biotechnology, Washington DC government, Human Genome Sciences, OrbiMed Venture LLC, Gary Pharmaceuticals, KBI Biopharma, M.E. Watnabe Consulting Inc., Parmacision, Microbion, Akriblo America, BioReliance Corporation etc.

For CAPA’s participation, there were 38 CAPA members and spouses (plus 8 volunteers recruited from Johns Hopkins University for onsite helps) attended the Forum including the following: George Chang, Esther Chang, Joe Harford, Tai-Tung Chang, Cheng-Tyng Chen, Ai-Ing Chen, Conrad Chen, Christine Chen, Jack Cheng, Mei-Ling Liao, David Chung, De-Maw Chung, Lin-Whel Chung, Charles Fan, Victor Hsin, Alice Hsin, Peter Kiang, Juliann Kiang, K.T, Jeang, Li-Mei Kuo, Alex Lin, Julia Liu, Lee-Cheng Liu, Chung-Chi Lu, Judy Lu, Sam Luk, Apollo Teng, Edward Wan, Cheng-I Wei, Mrs. Wei, Po Kee Wong, John Wu, Arthur Yang, Charles Yang, Hon-Zen Yu and Cha-Hui Lin.

Overall Summary

The Forum provided an opportunity for all participants to learn about the developments and the challenges of Taiwan’s biotech and pharmaceutical industries. With the enactment of ECFA, the government’s current strategy is to promote Taiwan as a springboard to enhance business potential in China as well as the greater Asia Pacific region.

Opening Remarks

The meeting started promptly at 2:00 PM with opening remarks by Chang Tai-Tung, Deputy Director of TECRO. He indicated that this forum is very important for understanding Taiwan’s biotech industry and wished everyone a successful conference. Following his speech, Maryland State delegate Susan Lee gave an upbeat speech describing her involvement in promoting biotech research and development in the State of Maryland, which included serving as the chairperson of Maryland’s “Biotech Task Force” and helping develop new legislative initiatives in nanomedicines. She also mentioned a recent trip in which she accompanied Governor Martin O’Malley to solicit biotech business partners and investments from China, India, and Vietnam. The trip has netted $40 million of new biotech investments in Maryland. She said that Maryland is naturally well-suited for the biotech industry due to the abundant talent available from nearby institutions known for bioscience and medical research, including NIH, NIST, FDA, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Maryland.

Keynote Speech

Minister Cyrus C.Y. Chu gave an impressive keynote speech. His speech was entitled “Will the biotech industry boom in Taiwan?” He described Taiwan’s situation is similar to that of transitioning from patients to doctors. He indicated that Taiwan’s advantages in developing biotech industry include existing high tech expertise, a highly educated workforce, advanced R&D capabilities, a strategic location close to China and other Asia countries, a strong legal and regulatory support framework, abundant capital, and Asia's most vibrant venture capital industry. He believed that Taiwan can become a springboard for expanding biotech industry and business to the Asia Pacific region, especially in China after the enactment of ECFA. Minister Chu impressed everyone with his excellent oral skills and ability to articulate these strategies.

Before the technical panel discussions started, a signing ceremony was conducted by Minister Cyrus Chu, DCB Chairman Johnsee Lee, and representatives of three US Biotech Companies - Life Technology, Ricerca and QPS.

Presentations

The main theme of the presentation was entitled “International Collaboration and Challenges for Taiwan's Biotech Industry to Improve China-Taiwan Relationship”. The moderator for the first set of presentations was Chien-Hsin Cheng, an advisor for Taiwan’s Department of Economic Affairs.

The first presentation was given by Dr. Chia-Lin Wang, President of DCB. Dr. Wang presented an overview of Taiwan’s biotech and pharmaceutical industries. He said that in order to strengthen the international competitiveness of Taiwan's biotech and pharmaceutical industries, the Taiwan government initiated “The Diamond Action Plan for Biotech Takeoff”, featuring continuous liberalization of the economic system and free market mechanisms to provide an environment in favor of biotech business growth. The government envisions Taiwan as a "global R&D center," which will serve as a blueprint for Taiwan's long-term biotech development. Most of Taiwan’s current R&D capability lies in upstream pre-clinical research and contract research operation (CRO). He mentioned that short-term strategies for promoting Taiwan’s biotech research and development (R&D) capability focus on clinical trials, contract manufacturing, bioinformatics, biochips, and physiological/biochemical monitoring systems. The mid- to long- term strategies will focus on monoclonal antibody drugs, gene diagnostics, gene therapy, stem cell technologies, transgenic plants and animals, pharmaceutical dosage forms, and artificial organs.

The second presentation was given by Dr. Yio-Wha Shau, Director General of ITRI’s Biomedical Technology and Research Laboratory. He gave an insightful perspective of Taiwan’s diagnostic and device industries. Taiwan has established several R&D centers for developing medical and diagnostic devices including Hsin-Chu Biomedical Park which focuses on medical devices, clinical research, and manufacturing, the Kaohsiung Science Park which focuses on developing R&D for dental, precious metal, micro-electromechanical, and biomedicine-related devices. Resulting from the recent R&D success, Taiwan has made great strides in the medical device industry, including making special surgical devices.

The third presentation was made by Julian Lee, Executive Director of Taiwan Trade Center in New York City. He presented recent economic growth data to support Taiwan’s successful business alliance strategy with foreign partners. Because of the common language and cultural heritage, Taiwan is becoming the gateway to China for a variety of business opportunities. To encourage enterprises to develop new products and technologies, the government has established R&D assistance programs to mitigate a company's product and technology development risks. Various R&D incentive programs have also been launched to provide grants for industry funding.

The second set of presentations was moderated by CAPA member Esther Chang. The first presentation was made by Christopher Linthwaite, President of Bioproduction Business Platforms, Life Technology USA. Mr. Linthwaite described the strength of Life Technology is in molecular level science and its success lies in continuously building upon its R&D expertise and forming service alliances with organizations such as DCB.

The next presentation was made by Joe Harford, Director of the International Affairs Office for the National Cancer Institute (NCI)/NIH. Dr. Hartford described that NCI is one of the largest units of NIH with an annual budget of $5 billion. Every year, NCI will train 1,000 exchange scientists from all over the World. Last year, the largest number of visiting scientists came from China (131), followed by Japan, India, and Korea. Taiwan sent 13 scientists to NCI last year. The objectives of the NCI’s International Affairs Office are to facilitate international exchanges and collaboration in scientific research and form research alliances. Mr. Hartford expressed hope for further collaborations between the US, China and Taiwan in the future.

Panel Discussions

Dr. Johnsee Lee, Chairman of DCB, served as moderator for the panel discussion. He reiterated Taiwan’s unique strength in the biotech area, including its capabilities for performing upstream pre-clinical researches and contract research operations in late phase clinical trials. He also stressed Taiwan’s vibrant venture capital industry and the government’s willingness to provide incentives for biotech startups.

Dr. Benjamin Chen, Chairman and CEO of QPS Holdings LLC, started the company in 1995 with a $280,000 investment from a family member. Since then, QPS has grown into one of the premier contract research operations and a leading service marketing company in the US, Taiwan, China, and India. In 2010, QPS acquired the toxicology laboratory from DCB, thus becoming a fully integrated R&D operation for global clinical research work. QPS is one of the success stories combining drug development know-how in the US with contract R&D capabilities in Taiwan. Another entrepreneur, Dr. Ming-Chu Hsu, gave another example about how a Taiwan-based company named TaiGen assembled a team of high quality research scientists to conduct successful clinical trial work in Taiwan and China. TaiGen has raised $130 million in venture funding from the US, Taiwan, and Japan. TaiGen is one of the few companies in the world that have successfully entered Phase-3 clinical trials for new drug development. She believes that TaiGen’s case can be duplicated many times over in Taiwan and China.

Dr. Whaijen Soo, a biotech and pharmaceutical management consultant on R&D planning, stated that many US venture companies have avoided doing business in China because of the perceived risk and uncertainty. Taiwan offers an alternative for those Western companies seeking to do business in China. However, Dr. Soo sees the days for the large pharma to develop expensive drugs are past. Most populations in the developing world (including China) simply cannot afford to use expensive drugs developed in the West. Last but not least, Dr. Nancy Chang, Chairperson of OrbiMed Advisors (a venture capital group), stated that Taiwan should focus on what China really needs instead of what Taiwan wants to do in China. For example, what China desperately needs are low-cost drugs and medical devices that can improve the health conditions of large aging populations.

Dinner

200 people attended the banquet dinner. The dinner speaker, Judith Britz, Executive Director of the Maryland Biotechnology Center, gave an overview on various programs related to Maryland’s biotech industry and medical science developments. She mentioned that Maryland has established two biotech R&D centers and has introduced legislation to provide R&D grants and a 50% tax credit for biotech R&D investment.