Taiwan Lags Behind Korea in Biotech Development

Taipei, March 2, 2012 (CENS)--In addition to DRAM (dynamic random access memory) and FPD (flat panel display) industries, Taiwan has lagged behind Korea in the development of the biotech industry, as Samsung Group has joined hands with two major U.S. biotech firms to develop biosimilar drugs since last year, pointed out Wong Chi-huey, president of Academia Sinica, the foremost academic institution in Taiwan, yesterday (March 1).

Wong noted that Korean government aims to raise the nation's sci-tech R&D outlay to 5% of GDP, the highest in the world, compared with 4% in Japan and 2.9% in Taiwan. In addition, Korea has proclaimed to become the world's seventh largest economy in several years.

Korea, said Wong, has successfully commercialized four new medicines, including two developed by LG Lifescience. By comparison, several Taiwanese biotech firms, such as Ptimer Biotechnology, Medigen Biotechnology, and TaiGen Biotechnology, are still staying at the stage of clinical test for their new medicines.

Samsung has established a dedicated biotech department and teamed up with Quintiles Transnationl and Biogen Idec, both of the U.S., in developing biosimilar drugs last year. The two U.S. firms are original medicine developers but patents for their technologies are going to expire. Backed by the two U.S. firms, Samsung will gain an edge in the competition with the Taiwanese biotech industry.

Taiwan has achieved substantial achievements in developing medicines for diseases common to Chinese people, such as antibody medicines for lung cancer and breast cancer, according to Wong. Wong noted that Taiwanese firms can cooperate with their mainland Chinese counterparts in developing the huge mainland Chinese market.