Hosting trials is treated as a practical measure of pharmaceutical and biotech growth. It builds research experience locally and can bring new drugs to domestic patients sooner.

Taiwan's advantages include accumulated single-payer health data, a concentration of large medical centres, and comparatively short patient recruitment periods. That matches global drugmakers' demand for Asian-population data in certain cancers and metabolic diseases.

The obstacles are regulatory review times and the supply of clinical research professionals. Critics have long argued that longer approval timelines than competitors cost Taiwan trials, and turnover among clinical research coordinators is also raised.

Regional competition is intense. Korea, Japan and Singapore are chasing the same business, each promoting faster review and tax incentives. Hwagyo Sibo will compare the figures once trial-hosting data are published.