Formosa Bio Chief Eyes Curing Intractable Diseases Through KAIST Partnership

"The partnership between KAIST and Formosa will bring hope to patients with intractable diseases and mark the first step in expanding friendly ties between Korean and Taiwanese companies."

Wang Lei-yu, chairman of Formosa Bio, received an honorary doctorate at KAIST's 2026 commencement ceremony on February 20. He pledged to contribute to new drug development and treatment of intractable diseases through research collaboration with the institute.

Wang was awarded an honorary doctorate in business administration for his pivotal role in establishing a joint research framework between KAIST and Formosa Group's affiliated universities—Mingchi University of Technology and Chang Gung University—as well as Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.

Formosa Group ranks among Taiwan's three largest conglomerates and leads the world in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic production. Beyond plastics, the group operates more than 10 affiliates spanning petrochemicals, energy, transportation, and batteries. Wang, daughter of the late founder Wang Yung-ching, oversees the group's bio and clean energy divisions.

Last year, Wang committed to establishing a biomedical research center at KAIST with investment exceeding 18 billion won ($12.4 million) over five years. The decision reflects KAIST's structural limitations in training physician-scientists, as the world-class research university lacks a medical school and hospital.

"When Chang Gung Memorial Hospital's accumulated medical data meets KAIST's excellent research infrastructure, we will achieve significant technological advances and bring hope to patients with intractable diseases," Wang said.

KAIST expects that accessing decades of Asian clinical data from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, which operates more than 10,000 beds, will help overcome existing biomedical research limitations skewed toward white male data.

As the potential value of medical data gains global attention, big tech companies including Google have entered AI-based healthcare alongside Formosa. Wang emphasized a key distinction: "While big tech's strength lies in technology platforms, the differentiated advantage of Formosa and KAIST is that clinical field-based data and research capabilities work as one team to solve real medical problems."

Formosa remains open to expanding cooperation into mobility and energy storage systems. "Executives from our affiliates recently visited KAIST to explore potential areas of collaboration," Wang said. "As my father, our founder, emphasized that 'great love knows no borders,' we will achieve greater social contributions through research cooperation with Korea."