Publication Date：10/21/2011•Source： Taiwan Today U.S.-based Polaris Pharmaceuticals Inc. is set to invest US$50 million in northern Taiwan's Hsinchu County to build an anti-cancer drug production base, according to the Council for Economic Planning and Development Oct. 20. Located in the Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park, the 11,570-square-meter plant will serve as a mass production base for the company's lead therapeutic drug ADI-PEG 20. Polaris said it projects the facility will generate US$3 billion in sales annually after a three-year construction period, with the company's share in the global market for this class of drugs jumping to 5 percent. ADI-PEG 20 is a type of therapeutic protein that Polaris has shown in clinical trials can fight tumors effectively and safely in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common type of liver cancer, and metastatic melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer. Polaris officials said prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer and leukemia are also potential targets of the treatment.CEPD Minister Christina Y. Liu and Hsinchu County Magistrate Chiu Ching-chun signed a memorandum of understanding Oct. 20 with Wu Bor-wen, Polaris president and CEO. The step is expected to boost the local economy by creating more jobs. Wu said the company's decision to choose Hsinchu County was partly due to the local government's administrative efficiency. He expects the integrated resources of neighboring research and industrial institutes to contribute to the project's competitiveness, he added. Two of Taiwan's top schools, National Chiao Tung University and National Tsing Hua University, as well as Hsinchu Science Park, the biggest industry cluster in the country, are close by the biomedical park. According to the CEPD, the investment program between Polaris and Hsinchu County was first touched upon in a business promotion tour organized by the council in San Francisco in May. (THN)
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