Leadgene develops cutting-edge technologies and high-quality biological raw materials reagents. Its recent achievements and expansion plans aim to push medical and geographic boundaries
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“We aim to be the driver of precision medicine in Taiwan and the rest of the world,” assures Louis Cheng, CEO of Leadgene Biomedical. To achieve this goal, Leadgene draws on both its long experience and its exciting recent advances. On the one hand, for more than a decade Leadgene has been researching and manufacturing GMP-quality proteins and in vitro diagnostic (IVD) products, essential in the creation of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and reagents for disease diagnosis.
For example, it has recently developed the first IVD for chronic kidney disease (CKD) on the global market, the Leadgene Indoxyl Sulfate (IS) ELISA kit, which has CE Mark approval for the European Economic Area, and has also been licensed in Taiwan and Vietnam. In addition, Leadgene has also focused on nanoantibodies (VHH), whereby it has created the VHH Naive Library, the world’s largest library of over 2,600 camel VHH samples.
This library has been instrumental in the development of over 500 projects and, as Leadgene’s Chairman, Chasel Chuang states, its use “dramatically shortens drug discovery time. VHH will be prominent for at least the next 10 years, that’s why it is important for us to step into the next generation of antibodies.”
On the other hand, Leadgene has recently completed its first merger and acquisition transaction with the purchase of 100% of the equity of SIDSCO, one of Taiwan’s leading preclinical contract research organizations. This partnership will enable Leadgene to provide its customers with a more complete and integrated biotech value chain, offering innovative turnkey diagnostic reagent solutions from research and development to preclinical testing.
In addition, Leadgene is preparing its IPO in the second half of 2025, a decisive step in the company’s ongoing evolution. In terms of expansion, while it currently sells its products and technology in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Korea and China, Leadgene is actively seeking to expand its global footprint to Brazil, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
The company is also particularly interested in the U.S., where it is looking for service partners and distributors. “As the world’s largest drug development market, the U.S. is our main target for the near future. We are confident that our technology can meet their market needs,” Cheng assures.
Given the privileged status that the Taiwanese biotech industry has acquired in recent years and the current favorable market conditions for its products, especially since the US-China trade war has led U.S. and European companies to seek alternatives, pioneering companies like Leadgene are called upon to advance Taiwan’s biotech industry and share their expertise with the rest of the world.