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(Last updated: 28 Jul 2008)
Trends and opportunities
The market
While the biotechnology industry is on the move in Taiwan, supported by strong government funding and private sector interest, there are some inherent weaknesses that provide opportunities for Australia.
Taiwan’s major weakness is the lack of experience in areas such as:
- Patent filing
- Regulatory applications
- Pre-clinical trials and verification
- Protocol design
Bridging this gap with Taiwan’s renowned manufacturing and capital investment capacity will result in quick and aggressive development of this sector. Anti-cancer, anti-aging, tissue culture and informatics are hot topics in biotechnology development and Taiwan is looking for the products and or technology to develop new drugs in these areas. Leading pharmaceutical firms are very aggressive in seeking new product development, providing opportunity for Australian biotechnology investors and research companies.
The Taiwan Government has recognised the importance of supporting the biotechnology industry and has backed this support with new initiatives such as the National Development Fund under the Executive Yuan. The Industry Development Bureau in the Ministry of Economic Affairs estimates that Taiwan’s biotechnology industry value will reach A$5 billion by 2008. The long–term objective is for Taiwan to hold three per cent of the world’s biotechnology market.
Because of the government’s strong commitment to biotechnology and the global investment favouritism in this area, Taiwan’s private sector has quickly developed interest in biotechnology. More than 50 private companies are now active in this industry. These include:
- Pharmaceuticals:
- Yung Shin
- China Chemical and Pharmaceutical Standard
- Sin-tong
- Everight
- Sinphar
- Grape King
- Food:
- The President Group
- Wei Chuan
- Kingcar
- AGV
- Chemical:
- Formosa Plastics Group
- China Synthetic Rubber
- Textiles:
- Government-owned enterprises:
- Taiwan Sugar
- Taiwan Salt
- Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Board
- China Petroleum
Other major players include China Steel, Lucky Cement, Yao Hua Glass, Formosa Plastics.
Opportunities
The best opportunities for Australian biotechnology companies are in developing:
- New dosage forms
- Protein drugs
- Animal and or plant derived products
- Modernised Chinese herbal medicines
- Intermediates of bulk pharmaceuticals
Three other areas of opportunity are new drug development and transfer, clinical trial cooperation, and bio–informatics.
There are a number of Australian companies already active in the market that are involved in a range of enterprises such as the development of anti-cancer compounds, bio-pesticide products and cochlear implant technology.
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Tariffs, regulations and customs
The general tariff for generic drugs is zero per cent.
Industry standards
There are standards and qualification processes for projects to qualify for investment under the Nation Development Fund. These include:
- Taiwan-based Asian operations, research and development (R&D) or manufacturing centre
- Products manufactured must have US or PCT patent protection
- Products manufactured must aim to comply with USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements
- Priority will be given to products that already have patents in Taiwan, to optimise allocation of investment resources
Generally, Taiwan follows USA Food and Drug Administration practices and industry standards. FDA approval for new drugs will ensure quicker approval in Taiwan, although clinical trials will be necessary. For generic products, the manufacturers must be a cGMP plant with Free Sales Certificate issued by the highest health authority in the country (ie. TGA in Australia). |
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Marketing your products and services
Market entry
There are a number of important market entry considerations as biotechnology is still a high-risk venture. Primarily, investors or prospective local partners in Taiwan need well–prepared proposals and sound business plans to conduct evaluations. It is also important to monitor government policies closely, and to form contacts.
For Australian companies seeking biotechnology joint-venture partners, you need to:
- Understand government polices (particularly if your interested in the National Development Fund)
- Get to know the profiles of the partners – venture capital firms or current players in the bio–pharmaceutical sector
- Present to the key persons of the right company
- Follow up diligently on return to Australia
For seeking trade partners you need to:
- Understand the market potential
- Know the import regulation and requirements
- Identify and work with an agent to do the product registration and marketing
Australian companies should target and market directly to key contacts in Taiwan. Be well prepared with detailed documentation and business plans. Australian exporters and companies seeking joint venture companies or alliances in Taiwan should take advantage of the following:
- Taiwan’s desire to be an international (or regional) oriented biotechnology world player, not a domestic one
- Australia ’s reputation for world-leading research, and connections in world leading biotechnology fields
- Current needs and sector interest, eg. anti-cancer, anti-aging, tissue culture, herbal medicine and bio-informatics.
- Meeting Taiwanese business executives and investors by visiting key biotechnology events around the world
If you are interested in exporting biotechnology to Taiwan, prepare a quality website on your company and its products. Many of the major biotechnology start up companies are located in the major science parks and all companies in the Science Parks have high speed Internet access. However, if you attempt to sell products over the Internet without a license issued by the Department of Health in Taiwan, these drugs will be regarded as illegal imports and may not be distributed.
Distribution channels
Most prescription type drugs are obtained from the hospital pharmacy or alternatively from the dispensary at the doctor’s surgery. Retail pharmacies in Taiwan carry prescription-type drugs and also offer an extensive range of over-the-counter pharmaceuticals such as analgesics and stomach medicines.
Most major foreign global pharmaceutical companies have Taiwanese agents who will arrange import documentation, hold stock and distribute to the hospitals and individual doctor’s surgeries. Mergers and acquisitions within global pharmaceutical and veterinary companies have meant a rationalisation of agents in the market and there are a now a number of well established agents who are eagerly looking for new products to distribute.
It is critical that any Australian company clearly establishes the end user for their products and then examines potential in the distribution chain. This will allow the Australian company the opportunity to maximise market potential. The possibility of multi–distributors here handling different product lines should not be overlooked.
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Contact details
The Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) is the Australian Government’s trade and investment development agency, operating as a statutory agency within the Foreign Affairs and Trade portfolio.
Austrade assists Australian businesses contribute to national prosperity by succeeding in trade and investment, internationally, and promoting and supporting productive foreign investment into Australia.
Austrade:
- Delivers services that assist Australian businesses initiate, sustain and grow trade and outward investment.
- Promotes Australia as an inward investment destination and, with the States and Territories, supports the inflow of productive foreign direct investment.
- Administers the Export Market Development Grants scheme.
- Undertakes initiatives designed to improve community awareness of, and commitment to, international trade and investment.
- Provides advice to the Australian Government on its trade and investment development activities.
- Delivers consular, passport and other government services in designated overseas locations.
A list of Austrade offices (in alphabetical order of country) is available.
More information
For further information please contact Austrade on 13 28 78 or email info@austrade.gov.au |
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