(BiotechEast staff)5 February, 2013 So far in this series of articles featuring the growing ties between Taiwan and the Netherlands in the life sciences, we've looked at the roots of the relationship and at the attraction of Leiden Bio Science Park for considering options for their European offices. Let's not forget that ties between the two countries are two-way, so today we'll examine some of the companies from the Netherlands that have built or are building a presence in Taiwan. And we'll talk to the DCB's Dr. Chi Wei-Kuang, director of the Biopharmaceutical Pilot Plant, on the plant's Netherlands connection.
to-BBB Technologies BV Willem van Weperen and Pieter Gaillard are CEO and CFO respectively of brain disease drug-development company to-BBB Technologies, based out of Leiden. We talked to them both during their visit to Taipei in July to attend BioBusiness Asia conference, and asked them to explain their Taiwan link."The company was founded on a technology that I discovered that can enable a drug to cross the so-called blood brain barrier. But we ran into some technical problems that needed solving, and one of the solutions that we came across was what we now call 'G Technology,'" began Gaillard.Founder and CSO Dr. Pieter Gaillard (left) and CEO Willem van Weperen of to-BBB technologies BV.This liposome-based technology came to to-BBB via Dr. Maggie Lu, originally a part of the drug delivery development team at Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). Lu had worked in Holland for a time and was back for a visit in 2007 when she met Gaillard."We talked and I thought, 'that's a very good solution to the problems we have'. That's when we started to build the relationship, and licensing from ITRI was discussed."After some visits back and forth between Taiwan and the Netherlands, and many meetings, the technology licensing deal was eventually finalized. to-BBB set up a local entity in Taiwan to handle the transfer, and were assisted in the process by the Netherlands Trade and Investment Office (NTIO) here in Taipei. VC firm IBT Management Corp of Taiwan through Assistant VP Dr. Yi-Chen Li became involved with an investment in the company, and helped them find a local manufacturing partner in TTY Biopharm.The company's business model is to cooperate with other pharmaceutical and biotech companies to combine their drugs with to-BBB's drug delivery technology to produce newly formulated drugs to target brain diseases such as Alzheimer's. to-BBB has an impressive list of research partnership agreements in place already with companies such as Abbott, Genzyme, GSK, Janssen Pharmaceutical, MedImmune and Shire Human Genetics.For to-BBB, Taiwan has a special attraction and connection to their core technology focus, new drug delivery formulations. In fact, this is one area where Taiwan can claim a world-leading technology position. As Gaillard put it:"More than in other place in the world, in Taiwan there is an appreciation of using existing drugs and giving them new life, such as what we do with bringing existing compounds to the brain. In other countries a lot of the time people want novel drugs and compounds, which makes it more risky. And in that field [liposome encapsulation], Taiwan is number one, for sure. All the big liposome stories around the world have a link to Taiwan."For IBT Management Corp., to-BBB was its first investment in the Netherlands. We talked to Dr. Li Yi-Chen about the investment decision."I met the to-BBB team at Bio Europe [large annual industry conference held in Europe]. I have the habit of going to Bio Europe, because it's not so large, and you can still meet everyone you need to and have time to talk. I learned about the story of the Taiwan connection from to-BBB. At that time they had already signed the collaboration and also the in-licensing deal. So during the due diligence process I had the opportunity to look at the licensing agreement, and evaluate the technology," said Li.They were particularly attracted to the number and quality of the global pharmaceutical companies that were working with them."If they can eventual sign a big deal with just one of these, it would be a big story," Li concluded.Having received her Masters and PhD degrees in Europe, Li is familiar with that environment and is particularly impressed with what the Netherlands has been able to achieve, particularly in talent recruitment."For example, at one medical devices company in Leiden Bio Science Park I visited, out of twenty staff three were from Germany and three from India. The Indians were working in software, and the Germans were focusing on optical technology. So they can attract people from all over the world to work together. And they also had a Chinese employee for the product development phase because they want to meet the market needs of China.""And it was an interesting environment, to see all different kinds of people speaking English in their company. And people can do what they are good at. This is unique in Europe. Even in the UK you'll have difficulty attracting people from other countries. In the Netherlands they offer a working visa and housing and a health insurance program. So this will keep them competitive with other countries," she added."And, although Netherlands is a small country, they see Europe as their whole market. If you are filing for regulatory affairs, if you are successful in the Netherlands you get approval for the whole of Europe," remarked Li.
Mercachem b.v Mercachem is a chemistry contract research organization also based out of Leiden Bio Science Park, offering chemistry services worldwide, particularly to the life sciences community. We talked to Frank Leemhuis, managing director of Mercachem, about opportunities in Taiwan."We started off in the Netherlands, and in that first year we attracted a lot of business in the Netherlands and the wider European Community. We expanded it also into the United States and more recently we saw a great opportunity in the pharmaceutical industry in Japan. That's when we attracted a Japanese business developer. He actually lives in the Netherlands, but travels once a month to the Far East. And we've seen opportunities to start developing business in Taiwan as well.""Since our Asia sales representative joined us in 2010 he has visited Taiwan many times already. I can't disclose names but I can say that we have completed several research projects for clients already in Taiwan."In Taiwan the company intends to support biotech companies or small pharmaceutical companies in their drug discovery efforts. Also, because quite a few companies in Taiwan are working in the natural products field, this is a good fit—and opportunity—for the company."We have a long track record in difficult chemistry, including the synthesis of natural products. So we try to provide support in that area as well. So far we have quite a lot of traction in Taiwan with this already," said Leemhuis.Development Center for Biotechnology (DCB), Biopharmaceutical Pilot Plant The Biopharmaceutical Pilot Plant at the Development Center for Biotechnology headquarters in Xizhi, east of Taipei, has enjoyed a strong partnership with Dutch vaccine company Crucell N.V. since it licensed its PER.C6 cell line to the plant in 2007 for the use in creating therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. Crucell is also based at the Leiden Bio Science Park. We asked Dr. Chi Wei-Kuang, director of the plant, about this partnership and the growing number of inquiries from the Netherlands. First he explained how the plant differentiates itself from growing competition in the biopharmaceutical manufacturing field. The Development Center for Biotechnology (DCB) headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan"Our specialty is pre-clinical volumes. From lead optimization to IND. The cGMP plant was initially established to support local biologics development, especially the Taiwanese biopharmaceutical industry, with our ability to produce clinical-trial batches of the highest quality," said Chi.The facility has an established set up of mammalian cell lines and a new microbial cell line, set to become operational at the end of the year. The plant is also equipped with a GLP facility for the testing of cell banks that are used to produce these biologics drugs. This is a unique feature for such a plant in Asia, according to Chi.With all the activity and rising competition in the biologics manufacturing arena from locations around Asia, the plant positions itself as a quality option but with Asian cost advantages: cheaper than biologics materials produced in Singapore, Japan, the US and Europe, and around the same price as Korea, China and India but with a higher quality resultant product. This quality has been validated, as biological material produced by DCB's plant has been accepted for use in US FDA and EMA authorized Phase I and II clinical trials both in Taiwan and abroad.Regarding the licensing deal with Crucell for its cell line, Chi is very satisfied. "So far, the experience with the PER.C6 cell line has been great. Crucell have extremely good technical support. Their technology teams have been here in person to visit, and they have a support center that we can access through Skype or email for any trouble shooting purposes. With this support we were able to practice our techniques with cell technologies and so help our antibody development program," said Chi.Crucell has another Taiwan connection, partnering with local vaccine company Adimmune for influenza vaccine manufacturing at Adimmune's plant in Tanzi, Taichung County.Chi mentioned that he could feel something special was building up in the relationship between Taiwan and the Netherlands."Actually, the country that we have the most contact with out of any in the world is the Netherlands. Why? They have an innovation mindset, and they are easy to communicate with. We have a very good working relationship and experience with these companies. I'm always amazed at the level of their innovation. So I'm very interested to keep up with what's happening in Netherlands biotech," explained Chi."In total seven companies from the Netherlands have visited us at the DCB in the past year. That's more than from any other single country," he added.
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