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Jen Chen, general manager of Genelabs local investment at present. “People neglect world have dismissed this type of technique, Biotechnology, a start-up company in the fact that the semiconductor industry and AbGenomics is already establishing collabo- Hsinchu that is performing clinical trials for biotech are totally different. We don’t have rative agreements with big-name research western pharmaceutical companies, agrees the brain power or environment to develop institutes and universities in Taiwan and in that clinical trials for Asia are a niche that biotechnology,”he says. the West, including with the National Insti- Taiwan can develop in biotechnology.But he tutes of Health (NIH) in the United States. points out that the severe shortage of doctors Switching sides The NIH showed interest after Lin and who know how to do clinical trials is a serious In general,academics in Taiwan are unwilling Wu generated antibodies to two cancer- problem for Taiwan. Genelabs employs its to get involved in venture businesses, and the related proteins from genes it supplied. The own doctor trained in clinical trial practice few who do take the plunge find themselves NIH had been trying in vain for three and a to lead projects at hospitals. hampered by government regulations. The half years to prepare the antibodies; Lin and “Only when the presidents of top medical rules have been eased in recent years,allowing Wu succeeded in less than two months. institutions, such as the medical school of academics to share in the spoils of intellectual But Lin remains concerned about the NTU and Taipei Veterans General Hospital, property rights. But the ability to work in university regulations he feels impeded his stand up and say that they are going to focus industry, which depends on respective research, especially the government stipula- on clinical trials will things begin to happen,” university’s polices,is severely restricted with tion that after three years a research assistant says Chen. some of the more lenient universities allow- cannot receive another pay rise. With such Others are more sceptical about the devel- ing a sabbatical or a mere 8 hours per week to poor prospects, few stay for long.“I felt like I opment of biotechnology in Taiwan. John Yu, devote to an industry position. For those was spending half my time retraining first vice-president and general manager of serious about their enterprise, the solution is research assistants,” Lin says. In the private the technology department of the China often to leave academia all together. sector, Lin and Wu can pay research assis- Development Industrial Bank, the largest Rong-hwa Lin, for example, recently tants according to their performance, rather investment bank in the Asian-Pacific region resigned from his job as director of the than just a standard low wage. “Research outside of Japan, agrees that private funds for Graduate Institute of Immunology at the assistants can treat it as a real job — one investment in biotechnology have grown sig- National Taiwan University College of they’ll want to stay at,”Lin says. nificantly in recent years. Two-fifths of the Medicine to defect to the private sector. Fleeing the regulations of academia, Lin US$50 million investment fund Yu oversees is Together with Herbert Wu, an associate and Wu were also wary of restrictions often earmarked for biotechnology. The fund has professor in the Institute of Molecular imposed by investors. They chose investors risen to this level rapidly over the past three Medicine, he is putting the finishing touches who understood biotech and who did not years,with most activity taking place this year. to their start-up company,AbGenomics. blink when told that they might be looking at But all of Yu’s major biotech investments Lin and Wu have devised a method for a 3–5 year start-up period. The fact that they are in the United States and mainland China, preparing antibodies using DNA immuniza- could be selective points to the startling and he sees little opportunity for worthwhile tion.Although many researchers around the amount of money available for biotech. The rodent route to celebrity

Mice have made Hung Li a the licensing rights to Li’s mice from a form of human SMA. He celebrity in Taiwan’s science and his results. then used them to screen drug community. In January this year, Li’s research, carried out at candidates. Two patents are Li’s paper detailing his mouse his lab in the Academia Sinica’s now in the offing, and biotech models for a fatal motor neuron Institute of Molecular Biology, companies in the United States disease appeared in Nature has specific applications for and Taiwan are offering around Genetics (24, 66–70; 2000). On a studying spinal muscular US$1 million for the mice and/or small island where scientists atrophy (SMA). Usually related research results. Hung Li (second from right) and have only recently started appearing in infants, this But Li would have to share the team behind the mice. publishing in major journals, disease weakens the muscles any royalties with his this caused quite a stir. and often leads to respiratory- department, the academy and lesson about the effect of patent But drowning out the related fatality. the government. More red-tape not only on licensing domestic acclaim has been an To tackle the problem, Li importantly, any negotiations but also on research publication. inundation of requests from generated genetically must be done through the Because Japan and the overseas laboratories seeking engineered mice that suffered academy, and Li must follow European Patent Office do not their stipulations concerning recognize a patent filed after the publication of his research. research underlying it has been With the patent for the published (unlike the United mouse model safely filed, it is States, which offers a one-year now available to drug period to file), Li must wait to screeners, and the Academia publish his drug research data. Sinica has recently signed a Li is not so concerned about contract allowing a Taiwanese the money. But he is somewhat biotech start-up to use the vexed by the delay caused by mice. But the SMA drug patent the patenting process and the is still sitting in a lawyer’s subsequent accusations office in the United States, made by biotech companies waiting to be filed. that he is holding up drug Million dollar mice: Li’s rodent models have huge potential. Li is learning an unpleasant development. D.C.