Tube samples are prepared for analysis in a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer at state-backed Development Center for Biotechnology. (Photo by Pang Chia-shan)

Taiwan’s biomedical industries are embracing information and communication technology as part of government plans for a future-proof health care sector.

The annual conference of state-backed Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry (IBMI) is always keenly followed by Taiwan’s medical community and related policymakers. Attended by representatives from major players in the medical, biotech, and information and communication technology (ICT) spheres, the event brings together the sharpest minds in the industry to help shape the future of local health care. This year’s gathering drew even greater attention than usual, being the first since the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic in March last year. “With great power comes great responsibility,” IBMI President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) said. “We need to be sure we keep pace with international trends, which are seeing an increasing emphasis placed on disease prevention and health promotion over simple treatment.” One of the world’s leading genomicists, Wong served as head of Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s foremost research institute, from 2006 to 2016 before taking over as IBMI chief.

IBMI not only serves as a platform to bring together the best and brightest from Taiwan’s health care sector, but also plays a key role in organizing related events like the Taiwan Healthcare+ Expo held last December at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center. Launched in 2017, the annual event is one of the most comprehensive medical trade shows in Asia. The latest edition attracted over 100,000 attendees. “The record scale and participation clearly indicate the level of interest in this field, but we see plenty of room for future growth,” Wong said.

A doctor conducts an abdominal ultrasound scan at a clinic in Taipei. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)

Policy Focus

The government shares Wong’s enthusiasm for the sector. In May last year, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) listed biotech and medical technology among the six core strategic industries during her second-term inaugural address.

Growth in the health and well-being, medical and pharmaceutical sectors has been accelerating ever since the ongoing Biomedical Industry Innovation Program was launched by the government shortly after Tsai took office in 2016, with the Act for the Development of Biotech and New Pharmaceuticals Industry amended in 2017 to cover additional fields like preventative and regenerative medicine. The program aims to build biomedical products and services into a flagship industry worth NT$1 trillion (US$35.9 billion) by 2025.

Total industry revenues stood at around NT$600 billion (US$21.5 billion) last year, rising from NT$330 billion (US$11.8 billion) in 2011, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). The expansion follows wide-ranging government policy support intended to foster a hospitable environment for public and private entities engaged in the industry. These include IBMI and another government-backed organization, Taipei City-based Development Center for Biotechnology (DCB).

When the center was established in 1984, it was tasked with producing vaccines for hepatitis B, a vital mission given Taiwan had one of the world’s highest infection rates for the disease at the time. Thanks to DCB’s tireless efforts, the country soon became the first to conduct universal vaccinations for all newborns against hepatitis B in the mid-1980s. Now located at National Biotechnology Research Park (NBRP) overseen by nearby Academia Sinica, DCB continues to work on a variety of research projects in such emerging fields as cell therapy and precision medicine, as well as new drug development.

The office of Taipei-based Taiwan AI Labs is filled with the latest and greatest artificial intelligence-assisted systems tailored for medical applications. (Photo by Pang Chia-shan)

Cross-Sector Support

DCB Chairman Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) credits Taiwan’s success in the biotech industry to a focus on targeted projects chosen by the nation’s medical professional associations. “This approach means that we can concentrate available resources on select areas and make them the best in the world while attracting international investment and talent,” Twu said. A stable financial framework featuring contributions from both foreign and local venture capital has also played a significant role in helping to fulfill the promise of the potential-laden sector, he added.

As a former minister of health, Twu is aware of the positive influence that comes from clustering expertise and fostering cutting-edge R&D, be that in a hospital or a dedicated research space such as NBRP. Occupants in the park include DCB, Academia Sinica’s Biomedical Translation Research Center, the Food and Drug Administration under the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) as well as the National Laboratory Animal Center under the MOST-administered National Applied Research Laboratories. Among other things, NBRP houses Taiwan’s infrastructure for preclinical animal testing, a critical phase of prototype drug development.

Twu is especially excited about the potential for Taiwan’s homegrown ICT heavyweights to extend their expertise to the medical and health care sectors. For example, the world’s leading electronics manufacturer New Taipei City-headquartered Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. is the main financer behind Taipei-based National Taiwan University’s (NTU) Cancer Center, which opened in July 2019 and is working on a high-precision treatment using protons to treat tumors. Taiwan’s leading role in the global supply of semiconductors means it is ideally placed to integrate the latest and greatest technologies into the biotech and medical sector, according to computer scientist Ethan Tu (杜奕瑾). “We produce the building blocks of innovation,” he said.

Dietary supplements are produced in a biomedical plant owned by Taipei-headquartered TCI Co. in the southern county of Pingtung. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)

Intelligent Future

Tu is well-known in Taiwan as the creator of PTT, one of the country’s largest and most influential online forums since its launch in the mid-1990s. In 2017, he founded Taiwan AI Labs in Taipei. The privately funded research organization seeks to promote the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in academic institutions, nongovernmental groups and enterprises through data exchanges and open-source projects.

According to Tu, health care is the ideal field to expand the use of AI, which has the ability to quickly conduct big data analyses and modeling. Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) Research Database contains over two decades worth of data and images to assist in this process.

With access to such a rich resource, Tu’s team is looking to put its combined expertise to good use in the field of precision medicine, providing customized treatment plans tailored to individual patients. This is achieved by combining NHI data with information from wearable sensors recording heartbeat, blood pressure, blood sugar and oxygen saturation. “It’s ultimately about prevention, making sure people are aware of the warning signs before they get ill,” Tu said. “We hope to relieve the burden on hospitals resulting from avoidable conditions by utilizing the power of AI.”

The power of AI is set to shape the future of health care for Taiwan’s next generation. (Photo by Pang Chia-shan)

Last December, AI Labs launched a federated machine learning alliance made up of the MOHW’s NHI Administration, NTU Hospital, Taipei Veterans General Hospital and other medical centers around the country dedicated to innovative applications for AI in health care. Less than a year into the project, the results already look promising, including AI-assisted systems for reading chest X-rays to detect pneumonia and for filtering magnetic resonance images to identify brain tumors. The federated model, in contrast to traditional centralized techniques, allows multiple actors to build a common learning platform without sharing data. This approach, addressing the critical issues of data privacy and security, is in line with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which entered into force in 2018 and is considered the gold standard globally.

Tu also heads the Taiwan AI Federated Learning Alliance. Launched in January, the group is jointly supported by the MOHW, MOST and Ministries of Culture, Economic Affairs, and Transportation and Communications, as well as the Cabinet-level National Development Council. Guest of honor at the alliance’s inaugural meeting was Vice President Lai Ching-te (賴清德), a trained physician of internal medicine, who was among the first individuals in government to call for the accelerated integration of AI applications in the medical sector. “Let’s march forward toward a smart island and digital nation,” Lai said. “There’s no time like the present.”

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