As BIO 2021 Approaches, Taiwan’s DCB Reveals Competitive Bio-Innovations to Watch Out For

BIO Digital 2021, the world’s largest virtual biotech partnering and education event, begins on June 10, drawing global attention despite the pandemic. This year, Taiwan will join the event with 47 companies and organizations.

Supported by Taiwan’s Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), Taiwan’s Development Center of Biotechnology (DCB) is prepared to demonstrate Taiwan’s pharmaceutical innovation on new cancer drugs and cell therapies. The 12 innovative drug discovery technologies selected for the event have already grabbed the eyeballs of big pharma firms such as Eli Lily, J&J, and Merck.

What’s more, DCB holds the 2021 Taiwan Biotech Forum before the BIO 2021 under the topic “Preparing for the Next Pandemic: Ready, Set and Go!” warming up for the presentation of Taiwan Delegation in BIO Digital.

Must-See Innovations From Taiwan

Dr. Chung-Hsiun Wu, President of DCB, points out some of the highlights.

First, the FLT3 inhibitor for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) shows promise in the AML market since its 5-year survival rate is only 15% to 20%, and this drug candidate is proven to be highly specific and can induce high activity. 

Next is the Tri-mannosyl-ADC platform, an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) developed by DCB. It is created using enzymes to combine chemicals in the form of 4 single molecules (4A) or 2 different molecules (2A2B) with antibodies. Compared to other ADC drugs, the Tri-mannosyl-ADC platform demonstrated a higher potential to increase efficacy and overcome certain adverse events, making it a better candidate to commercialize. 

In addition, DCB developed a new CAR-T therapy with an autocrine immune checkpoint inhibitor and new targets. In the lab setting, the therapy expressed high specificity and toxicity toward the solid tumor in gastric cancer, showing 60% effectiveness on tumor inhibition. DCB now expects to tackle issues with the tumor microenvironment and lead to a stronger cytotoxic effect on solid tumors.

On top of that, there is a growing number of CHO cell protein drugs on the market. According to Antibody society, 33 out of 35 antibody drugs approved by FDA and EMA from 2017 to 2020 are developed with CHO cells. 

DCB has developed a high throughput CHO cell production system with great potential in the CDMO market. The vector, CHO cell host, and manufacturing process in the system have patents in several countries, and it was a part of the MOU signed with Japanese CRO firm CMIC. The technology would be one of the main focuses of Bio Digital 2021, surely attracting CDMO and biopharma firms.  

The 2021 Taiwan Biotech Forum

The 2021 Taiwan Biotech Forum invites Taiwan’s former vice president and academician Chien-Jen Chen, CEOs and senior executives from Pfizer, Amgen, AstraZeneca, and Graphen, along with experts and professors from National Cheng Kung University and National Yang-Ming Chiao Tung University. The forum will focus on issues on public health, pharmaceuticals, therapeutics, AI, and strategies to boost bio-innovation under the pandemic. 

The individual presentations of the Forum can be found here: https://reurl.cc/vqeMWA

To cope with future infectious diseases and the rapidly emerging COVID-19 variants, Chien-Jen Chen said it is imperative for Taiwan to utilize its strengths in ICT, AI, and data analytics to improve the healthcare system in Taiwan. Those are also great for minimizing physical contact and facilitate smart hospital management in the hospital. Furthermore, the global collaborations between governments and biotech companies have shown the importance of solidarity in combating the pandemic.

Amgen’s Vice President of Research, Philip Tagari, pointed out that the pandemic drove drug discovery and selection to an unprecedented speed. It forced pharmaceutical companies to come up with drug candidates within months; thanks to AI, data science, and genomics, we managed to make it feasible.

On the other hand, the Department of Industrial Information of DCB’s will bring back the latest industry news in BIO 2021 and host a forum on July 16th to overview BIO 2021 free of charge in Taiwan.

Chung-Hsiun Wu said that BIO 2021 would be a great chance to show the world Taiwan’s unique viewpoints and development in biotech, AI, digital medicine, and drug discovery. He encourages Taiwanese firms to venture for more overseas channels and business opportunities.

Media Contact  

Hans Wu  

Mobile:+886-937-665-858

hanswu@dcb.org.tw

Author

Tyler Chen

"Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died."- Erma Bombeck