After cord blood, stem cells and a variety of cellular therapies, exosomes are one of the biggest discoveries in regenerative medicine in recent years and have quickly become the buzzword in the global biotech industry. The global market for exosome-related applications is estimated to reach $513 million by 2026, with the potential to exceed $3 billion by 2030.

Given the size of the market for exosomes, former Minister of Health and Welfare Tzou-yien Lin (林奏延) and NTU Professor Shen Tang-long (沈湯龍) called for the establishment of the "Taiwan Exosome Industry Alliance (台灣外泌體產學聯盟)" in the first half of last year, which was jointly promoted by the Taiwan Society for Extracellular Vesicles (TSEV), the Taiwan Research-based Biopharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (TRPMA) and PMIA Taiwan, and has attracted the participation of four organisations and 58 biotechnology companies.

Lin explained at the time that exosomes research would cover a wide range of areas, including new drugs, regenerative agents, carriers, test reagents, medical devices, CDMOs, as well as cosmetics and skin care products.

Companies such as ExoOne Bio (艾萬霖), Formosa Biomedical Technology Corp (台塑生醫), Bionet (訊聯) and Lumosa Therapeutics (順藥) have invested in the development of new exosome drugs, while U-Neuron (永立榮), Shine-On BioMedical (聖安) and Locus Cell (樂迦再生) have obtained international INCI certification for cosmetic raw materials, and companies such as Taiwan Bio Therapeutics (台寶) and Mycenax (永昕) are focusing on contract services for exosomes.

Some surveys revealed that the global market for exosome-related applications is estimated to reach US$513 million by 2026 and more than US$3 billion by 2030. However, when it comes to sourcing raw materials for cosmetics, only a few countries such as the United States, Japan and South Korea have approved human-derived exosomes, while the European Union, mainland China and ASEAN countries have banned the use of human-derived cell-related ingredients.