Pharmaceutical News
To develop Taiwan's medical industry into another international brand like TSMC
2021/04/10

The world is following a new trend moving from precision medicine to precision health, said   Dr Liang Kung-Yee, the President of the National Health Research Institute (NHRI), in a summit forum on decoding precision treatments for cancers.  Dr Liang stated that Taiwan enjoys the advantages of excellent telecommunication and healthcare and should integrate these two industries to develop the precision health industry and create a well-known international brand based in Taiwan. 

The summit forum was jointly organized by the NHRI, NHIA, HPA and the United Daily.  The organizers invited 27 experts on the panel to discuss issues concerning cancer treatments in Taiwan, from national cancer treatment programs and NHI reimbursement policies to the latest treatment options. 

Most of the speakers in the summit reckoned that scientific evidence and personalization are playing an important role in the decisions concerning treatment methods and NHI reimbursement.  Doctors and patients have to expand their knowledge about precision medicine, which is to use the least medical resources in finding and providing the most effective treatment tailor-made for patients.

Taking cancers for example, Dr Chen Li-Tzong, the Director of the National Institute of Cancer Research, pointed out that the R&D of cancer drugs usually focuses on treating cancers which are prevalent in the regions where the researches are carried out.   As a results, the researches on treatments for lung cancer and breast cancer have always attracted great attention.  On the other hand, fewer resources have been directed to the researches of treatments for stomach cancer and biliary tract cancer which are more prevalent in Asia.  To provide effective treatments, we need to engage ourselves in the researches, treatments and payment policies, said Dr Chen.

Through studying the big data on health, it is possible to identify the risk factors, said Hsiung Chao, an honorary researcher of the NHRI.  Risk prediction model is an application of the big data on health.  The model can help to identify high risk groups to whom advices and suggestions should be provided. 

Risk prediction model can also be integrated into the cancer prevention policy.   For example, to give the high risk groups the priority in screening so as to lower the mortality rate.  However, risk factors vary from region to region.  Therefore, foreign models would only have limited benefits for the people in Taiwan.  

In order to establish a cancer gene bank for the people in Taiwan, the NHRI is now planning a collaboration framework involving public and private sectors.   The Taiwan Cooperative Oncology Group will be in charge of patient enrollment, provide high standard NGS testing and collect raw data.  

These raw data can be used to identify the best treatment for individual patients, as well as to accelerate the enrolment of clinical trials and to facilitate the development of new drugs.  Together, the gene bank, the NHI database and the cancer registry could help to confirm the efficacy based on the real world data and, hence, support the industry development in Taiwan. 

【2021-03-30 / United Daily】