MOEA approves funding for biotech, health care management projects

October 16, 2006

The Ministry of Economic Affairs Department of Industrial Technology (DOIT) recently approved funding for a number of projects from several biotech companies and a site management organization.

The funding is provided through the DOIT's Innovative Service R&D Program, which provides support to companies developing "total solution services" in the technology and R&D fields.

The biotech company recipients, PharmaEssentia Corp., Vitagenomics, and Asiagen, received approval for R&D funding for the creation of new technologies for a new hepatitis treatment, identity recognition, and testing reagents – projects which will mark new milestones for Taiwan's biotechnology industry, said a DOIT spokesperson. Meanwhile, Taiwan Total Management Consulting (TTMC) received approval for a project that aims to improve the overall standard of clinical testing in Taiwan.

According to the DOIT, PharmaEssentia's plan involves creating a medical treatment using third-generation long-acting interferons – a development which will help speed up the development of a protein medicine engineering technology and improve currently available hepatitis medicines.

Vitagenomics will develop a completely new method of creating molecular "biological" passwords that would help accurately distinguish individual identities and confirm biological relations between persons. The DOIT said that successful completion of the project would make Vitagenomics the creator of the first identification content based on the gene variations specific to Chinese people. The project will also make the company the world's first commercial provider of molecular identification technology.

Asiagen is developing a testing reagent for person-animal transmission of tuberculosis that only requires three hours for testing. The new reagent is more effective and will reduce testing times that hinder current testing reagents, according to the DOIT.

TTMC, a site management organization, seeks to establish Asia's largest clinical testing implementation platform by creating an inter-hospital network of clinical testing centers. The project also involves a "single-window" management and operations systems that integrates essential data among participating hospitals. According to the DOIT, the TTMC already possesses a core personnel base to implement the project, and boasts a large client base that includes top pharmaceutical companies around the world and in Taiwan.

(Economic Daily News)

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