The announcement of the establishment of the Taiwan Bio-Manufacturing Corporation (TBMC) in May has been eagerly anticipated. TBMC has used Taiwan's TSMC model to promote itself both domestically and internationally, mainly because it has replicated the TSMC model in four major aspects: shareholding structure, personnel composition, business model and the role of the government, and even its English name, TBMC, is very similar to TSMC.
After more than a year of planning, the organisation of TBMC is beginning to take shape and, in addition to the recent election of its directors and supervisors, fundraising and construction of the facility are in full swing.
ITRI and the Development Centre for Biotechnology (DCB) each invested TWD 300 million in TBMC, and the National Development Fund and ITRI's subsidiary ITIC cashed in the shares, after the capital increase several times the completion of seed funding, the near future will enter the fundraising stage of the A round. Officials said that although the National Development Fund is the single largest shareholder, but with a stake of no more than 40% in principle, providing non-governmental capital increase greatly increased, the Fund does not need to hold 40% of the shares.
TBMC is positioning itself as 'TSMC in the biomedical industry' and is also looking to work with multinational CDMOs or even contract OEMs to build its drug manufacturing capacity. According to the official, there are four main features that are similar to those of TSMC: first, the shareholding structure is that of a government-led private company, and in addition to the National Development Fund, there are collaborations with foreign technology companies; second, talent is brought in from government-backed public associations; third, the business model is that of a professional CDMO; and fourth, the government provides full support.
Sources familiar with the matter said CDMOs have been in the works in Taiwan for a long time, especially during the coronavirus outbreak when the issue of subcontracting mRNA vaccines such as Modena accelerated the government's efforts to legislate and establish a national company. In response to the development trend of the international pharmaceutical industry, TBMC intends to develop a platform for the research and development of nucleic acid and cell-based biologics that includes six core technologies: CHO-C cell presentation system, I-MASTER process platform, long-chain nucleic acid production and manufacturing, innovative short nucleic acid drug synthesis system, LNP production and manufacturing, and viral vector production and manufacturing.
The CDMO industry is also an important part of Korea's biotech sector, with companies such as Samsung Biopharmaceuticals and SK Biosciences playing a key role globally. According to DCB, the CDMO industry is expected to grow to US$18.88 billion by 2025, with Switzerland's Lonza being the world's largest biopharmaceutical CDMO by revenue.
