FBC and UBIA Tie Up in New Protein Drugs JV

The Formosa Plastic Group (FPG) and United Biomedical Inc. Asia (UBIA) of Taiwan recently announced setting up a joint venture to make protein drugs via a share swap, in which Formosa Biomedical Technology Corp. (FBC), a biotechnology subsidiary of the FPG, bought for NT$800 million (US$26.7 million) a 25% share, with UBI taking a 75% stake by swapping its technologies and assets.

The new venture is scheduled to soon carry out a second fund raising of NT$300 million (US$10 million) by selling each share at NT$80 (US$2.7), with the fundraiser to attract strategic investors, and capital to set up a drug plant.

Industry sources said that about US$80 billion of business opportunities will be available to interest players due to patent expiration in 2020, attracting  many international drugmakers as Mycenax Biotech Inc., EirGenix Inc., JHL Biotech Inc., UBIA etc..

FBC pointed out that UBIA has developed several innovative peptide vaccines to make drugs for Alzheimer's, AIDS etc.. In addition to vaccines, UBIA also uses several high-potential protein drugs to swap for technical shareholding in the new venture, FBC added.

UBIA was founded in 1998 with most of the top management, including chairperson and CEO C.Y. Wang, being Chinese biotechnologists in the United States who responded to Taiwan government's call for overseas biotech talents to work in Taiwan. UBIA acquired Roche and GSK's cGMP drug plants in Taiwan in 2001, and then utilized the facilities to research special injection generic drugs. From 2003 to 2006, UBIA invested in setting up a pilot factory for protein / single-chrome antibody biomedical drugs, which can produce protein drugs for clinical trials.

In late 2012, UBIA originally planned to sell its drug plant in Hsinchu, northern Taiwan to local Synpac-Kingdom Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. under CSRC Group for NT$648 million (US$21.6 million), but at the last minute changed course to sell the facility to another local company, Aupa Biopharm Co., Ltd.. By acquiring major international pharmaceutical's facilities in Taiwan, UBIA has received orders from big drug brands such as GSK, Roche, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, Astellas etc..

FBC has been aggressively developing its biotechnology-related businesses, from detergent, cosmetics, healthcare to biomedical products. Through cooperation with  hospitals, medical schools and pharmaceutical makers, the firm has ventured into biomedical and pharmaceutical fields. In the past few years, the firm's revenue increased at an average annual rate of 10%-20%.