Dr. Lin Xi-Zhang, professor at the National Cheng Kung University, has created a team of TRUST-U project, using three kinds of composite materials to reach better treatment results in interventional therapy in embolization liver cancer patients, endoscopic mucosal resection, etc. The team announced that it has successfully raised NT$65 million in seed rounds and established “T-ACE Co., Ltd.”, which is one of the great news for doctors and patients who implement interventional therapy.

The three innovative medical materials of T-ACE are the scientific research achievements accumulated by Prof. Lin Xi-Zhang which supported by MOST (Ministry of Science and Technology) for many years, and then through the help of germination and TRUST-U programs and the support of the GLORIA of NCKU. Finally the team has successfully established a business. The team consists of clinicians who combine pharmacists and engineering professors to develop composite medical materials. The products have been completed in human experiments and will be provided for clinical use by endoscopic physicians or therapeutic radiologists.

The team's first medical material is the embolization microspheres, which is X-ray radiopaque, biodegradable, drug-loadable and sustained-release effects. Physicians can use microspheres to load drugs, and human trials of liver cancer embolization have been completed. In the future, it can also be applied to the treatment of prostate artery embolization and radiation embolization in vivo.

The second material is X-ray contrast injection oil which is an X-ray radiopaque oil based on vegetable oil. It has good development effect and is used in the treatment of liver cancer embolization. At present, the supply of raw materials for commercial development oil is insufficient, and the product is expected to replace the existing commercial products in the future.

The third one is hydrogels for endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) and mucosal dissection (ESD). It has good tissue lifting effect and long maintenance time. It can be applied to the esophagus. The treatment of lesions such as stomach, intestinal polyps or early tumors is excellent. The product has been clinically tested in the application of endoscopic gastrointestinal disease resection.

Chen Liang-Gee, the Minister of MOST, said that after the revision of Science and Technology Basic Law, the restrictions on scientific research environment in Taiwan were greatly loosened, so that universities and professors could industrialize scientific research results more efficiently.

Especially in the stock penalties, part-time work and interest avoidance regulations, these improvements encourage the entrepreneurial will of professors. It also increases the willingness of the industry to participate the innovation and start up. This time, T-ACE has recruited senior industry professionals to serve as the chairman of the board, and will rely on industry experience to help scientific research achievements become a successful business. Under the favorable and innovative research environment, it is expected that more successful cases of academic entrepreneurship will be seen in the future.