Source: Taipei Times by Kao Shih-ching

Taiwan’s MegaPro Biomedical Co (巨生生醫) and China Chemical & Pharmaceutical Co (CCPC, 中國化學製藥) yesterday announced that they have set up a joint venture with China’s Wellbridge Biotech Ltd (蘇州瑋琪) focusing on the development of drugs in inhalation dosage forms.

MegaPro said it would invest about US$600,000 for a 30 percent stake in the joint venture — Trium Therapeutics Co — while CCPC and Wellbridge would hold 40 percent and 30 percent respectively.

Trium’s chairman and general manager are to be appointed by CCPC and MegaPro respectively, it said.

Trium’s main research goal is to meet pharmaceutical companies’ demand for non-invasive routes of drug administration, such as via the nasal cavity, to improve patients’ comfort and drugs’ bioavailability, MegaPro said.

MegaPro would utilize its expertise in improving drug delivery technology and develop new dosage forms on its nano-platform technology, it said.

MegaPro would also be responsible for conducting animal tests and human trials, it added.

CCPC, which operates Good Manufacturing Practice-certified pharmaceutical plants, as well as sales channels at home and abroad, would be responsible for mass production and marketing, while Wellbridge, which specializes in medical nebulizers, would provide technical information for the development of inhalation dosage forms and supply nebulizer equipment, the companies said.

“Oral dosage forms have been well-developed and widely used by generic drug manufacturing pharmaceutical companies. How to expand special treatment pathways has become the next phase of development in the pharmaceutical industry,” CCPC general manager Wu Zhi-yong (吳志庸) said in a statement.

Reports by Data Bridge Market Research Private Ltd, a professional research company, show that the global market for inhalers is expected to reach US$42.1 billion in 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.87 percent from this year to 2027, MegaPro said.

As patients inhale the drug, its main components can be quickly absorbed by the lungs and dense blood capillaries, it said.

Trium has completed the screening of drug candidates and the preliminary animal tests, and would carry out stability tests and more animal tests, the companies said.

Spun off in 2014 from the Industrial Technology Research Institute, MegaPro focuses on developing niche nano-medicines and holds two proprietary nanotechnology platforms, with three product pipelines treating iron deficiency anemia and hepatocellular carcinoma.

MegaPro reported zero revenue for the first half of this year, while CCPC’s revenue was flat from a year earlier at NT$4.03 billion (US$135.2 million), companies’ data showed.