On September 4, 2019, the National Biotechnology Research Park (NBRP) and global biotechnology giant Amgen signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for mutual cooperation. During the next five years, both sides will jointly promote the development of Taiwan’s biomedical industry, including new drug research, biomedicine value chains, and nurturing biotechnology talents.

Academia Sinica President James C. Liao, who also heads the Board overseeing the NBRP, said, “There has long been a close relationship among Amgen, Taiwan, and Academia Sinica. Before Dr. Fu-Kuen Lin entered Amgen and discovered the world’s first erythropoietin, he served as Associate Research Fellow at our Institute of Botany. Cooperation between the NBRP and Amgen will cultivate high-level leaders for innovative R&D and industrial management, thereby accelerating the commercialization and globalization of new Taiwanese biotechnologies and unleashing the potential energy of Taiwan’s medical industry!”

Since its establishment, the NBRP has dedicated itself to integrating and conducting international exchange activities, with increasingly beneficial results for research and industry alike. In July 2019, the NBRP signed two Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with AstraZeneca and Shonan Health Innovation Park respectively, and has now signed a LOI with Amgen. One of the highlights of this LOI is the establishment of the Amgen Academy.

Amgen Academy, which will be officially launched this year, is Taiwan’s first biomedical talent resource pool established in cooperation with an international pharmaceutical company. It will focus on innovation, technology and management, hiring global experts, and holding relevant courses and seminars on topics such as biologic drug development technologies, drug manufacturing, multinational laws, gene decoding, enterprise management and other practical issues.

President Liao emphasized that during the next five years both sides will work closely on new drug research, while also aiming to boost Taiwan’s biotechnology value chain and cultivate this field’s Taiwanese talent pool. Amgen Vice President of Research Philip Tagari said, “The biotechnology sector of Asia has tremendous potential and Taiwan is a forerunner in innovation, scientific research and many other capabilities. Amgen is very optimistic about Taiwan’s prospects and believes that it will be the ideal environment to carry out Amgen’s innovative projects.”

One of the NBRP’s main goals is to break through current biotechnology industry bottlenecks by means of industry-academia cooperation and resource sharing. Han-Chung Wu, Acting-Chief Executive of the BioHub Taiwan, emphasized that the NBRP is adjacent to Academia Sinica and close to several universities and medical centers, with the industry cluster generated by the integration of various resources accelerating the pace of domestic new drug research and development. “We hope to combine the innovative forces of the two sides to elevate the competitiveness of Taiwan’s biotechnology industry and help improve the wellbeing of the Taiwan people through the cultivation of talent, academic exchanges, resource integration and additional research activities, while also accelerating the development of new drugs,” said Amgen Taiwan General Manager Joyce Lee.

The LOI signing ceremony was presided over by Academia Sinica President James C. Liao, National Biotechnology Research Park Acting-Chief Executive Officer Han-Chung Wu, Amgen Vice President of Research Philip Tagari, and Amgen Taiwan General Manager Joyce Lee. Other guests of honor included Minister without Portfolio Tsung-tsong Wu, Academia Sinica Vice President Fu-Dong Liu, Former Academia Sinica President Chi-Huey Wong, as well as NBRP Executive Office Acting-CEO Dr. Andrew H.-J. Wang.

About National Biotechnology Research Park (NBRP)

With the five missions in Translation, Innovation, Incubation, Global Connect, and Sustainability, NBRP is the first “innovative research biocluster” supported by the government that provides state-of-the art platform technologies for research-driven discovery and drug development, as well as fosters biotech entrepreneurship. NBRP is opened in October 2018, with the Development Center for Biotechnology of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Drug Administration and Taiwan Food of the Ministry of Health and Welfare arrived and in operation. For more information, please visit https://nbrp.sinica.edu.tw/.

About Amgen

Amgen focuses on areas of high unmet medical need and leverages its biologics manufacturing expertise to strive for solutions that improve health outcomes and dramatically improve people’s lives. A biotechnology pioneer since 1980, Amgen has grown to be the world’s largest independent biotechnology company, has reached millions of patients around the world and is developing a pipeline of medicines with breakaway potential. Amgen Taiwan was established in 2015 to make its innovative medicines available to patients in Taiwan suffering from serious illnesses. For more information, please visit www.amgen.com