Medigen Biotechnology Corp. (hereinafter as MBC) was founded in Taiwan in 1999, focusing on the development of biopharmaceuticals for liver diseases and cancers. MBC has a paid-in capital of NT$710,000,000 (approximately US$21.5M), and is listed on Emerging market of Taiwan. Substantial shareholders include several well-known publicly listed companies in Taiwan, such as Everspring Industry Co., Ltd., Tatung Co., Taching Holding Co., and Lucky Cement Corporation.
Since 2000, MBC had cooperated with the Australian partner, Progen Pharmaceuticals Limited (hereinafter as Progen), for the development of PI-88, an antiangiogenic agent. MBC had successfully completed FDA’s Phase II studies on liver cancer with promising results. These positive clinical findings lead to the sale of our PI-88 rights back to our Strategic Alliance Partner (Progen Pharmaceuticals) in 2007. Currently, MBC is collaborating with Oncolys BioPharma of Japan to jointly develop OBP-301, a novel oncolytic virus therapy for cancers, under the regulation of US FDA. Lining up in the pipeline are several cancer therapeutic related projects, and one of them, with a potential of moving into Phase II in 12 month.
Base on the core competence in Molecular Diagnostic, MBC has established a parallel platform on the development/production and marketing of Nucleic Acid Tests (NAT) since 2005. The first NAT product, HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) test kits, was brought to the market in 2007 after its approval by Taiwan DOH (Department of Health), US FDA (510K), and European CE Mark. NAT Kits for pathogen detection (HBV/HCV/HIV) are expected to be approval by the SFDA of China in the first half of 2009 to further safeguard blood products in medical uses. Additional NAT pipelines and products portfolio are on track to further expand the profit.
MBC intends to further extending global partnership in new drug development and nucleic acid tests, particularly in the field of oncology and liver diseases.