Biotech venture controversy unrelated to biotech statute: speaker

 2011/12/13  Taipei, Dec. 13 (CNA) The controversy surrounding the government's investment in a biotech startup in 2007 should not cast doubt on the legitimacy and effectiveness of a law passed the same year to promote the biotechnology industry, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng said Tuesday. "The enactment of the statute in July 2007 has injected new growth momentum into our biotech and pharmaceutical industry and the sector has since thrived without glitches," said Wang, one of the sponsors of the Act for the Development of Biotech and New Pharmaceuticals Industry. In the past few years, Wang said, some 20 to 30 new drugs developed in Taiwan have entered first-stage clinical trials approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and seven of them have advanced to third-stage clinical trials. "The approval of every such case is a major event in the biotech world," Wang said. Thanks to the statute, Taiwan's biotech industry has developed smoothly under full government support, which has in turn helped upgrade Taiwan's status in global biotechnology and pharmaceutical development, Wang said. The ruling Kuomintang (KMT) legislative speaker expressed regret that the controversy surrounding Yu Chang Biologics, a company formed in 2007 to develop a new AIDS drug in partnership with Genentech and later renamed TaiMed Biolgics, had led to doubts over the statute's legitimacy and functions. Wang was referring to charges by KMT lawmakers that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen, violated "revolving-door" regulations designed to prevent conflicts of interest through her involvement with the company at the time. As vice premier, Tsai endorsed government investment in the formation of the startup and then became its chairperson just months after stepping down from her post in May 2007. The head of the Executive Yuan's Legal Affairs Committee at the time said Monday that the committee was asked by Tsai for legal guidance on her move to Yu Chang and advised her that it would not violate conflict of interest rules.