In order to cultivate biotech talents and deepen industry-academia collaboration, Eastern Group donated funds to construct a 23,141 m2 biotech building to National Taiwan University (NTU) in January of this year. Eastern Group President Gary Wang and NTU President Dr. Chung-Ming Kuan signed a “Letter of Intent on the Donation of the Biotechnology Building and Industry-Academia Collaboration." The building is expected to be finished in six years. Mr. Wang hopes that the collaboration will provide customers with the best products backed by science. At the same time, this collaboration is also meant to support the biotechnology industry in Taiwan, upgrading the overall industry and serving as a milestone in terms of industry-academia collaboration. Recently, Associate Professor Edward Chern from the NTU Department of Biochemical Sciences & Technology has announced the results of his research on Eastern’s purtier placenta after a three-phase efficacy verification study. Eastern Group also donated millions for the establishment of an anti-aging research lab and the NTU-Eastern Biotech & Biomed Research Center, which was inaugurated today (November 4). The inauguration ceremony was attended by NTU Executive Vice President Ming-Syan Chen and Eastern Group Vice President Shang-Wen Liao, celebrating their determination to further strengthen international collaboration with the Taiwanese academia and leading foreign research organizations.
NTU Executive Vice President Ming-Syan Chen said, “NTU is pleased to have this opportunity to work with Eastern Group. In January, we reached an agreement to engage in industry-academia collaboration and construct the biotechnology building. The agreement will significantly benefit the research and development prospects of the College of Life Science and the College of Bioresources and Agriculture. In the future, departments in the two colleges and the NTU Experimental Farm will engage in industry-academia collaboration to help with product development, technology transfer, and commercialization. The agreement will lead to further exchanges and collaborative research for both parties in the fields of agriculture technology, agriculture produce promotion, and biotechnology.”
While Eastern Group Vice President Shang-Wen Liao said, “Eastern Group has agreed to invest tens of millions of funds to the NTU-Eastern Biotech & Biomed Research Center and anti-aging laboratory. We aim to apply the latest technology to our products. We hope to utilize the research center as a means to verify the efficacy of our products as well as to help with accelerating technology transfers and commercialization. We also hope that the platform can serve as an open platform for academic collaboration with the academia in Taiwan. For example, the collaborative research on Eastern’s purtier placenta used the NTU stem cell platform to verify the extract’s efficacy. After a three-phase study, Eastern can proudly recommend these scientifically-proven products to our customers. Going forward, we hope to work extensively with NTU to introduce good, effective, and healthy products. We are thankful to the President and Executive Vice President of NTU for their support, and would also like to thank the College of Life Science and the professors for their dedication to the project. I am particularly thankful to Dr. Jeng, Dean of the College of Life Science, and Associate Professor Dr. Chern for their hard work. I hope that our collaboration will lead to more products that help customers meet their needs as well as to lead the industry to bring Taiwanese brands to the global market!”
NTU College of Life Sciences Dean, Dr. Shih-Tong Jeng said, “I am pleased to see Eastern Multimedia Group invest so many resources to facilitate NTU’s research efforts. The NTU-Eastern Biotech & Biomed Research Center is an open platform that will facilitate collaborations between Eastern and the College of Life Science, College of Bioresources and Agriculture, and College of Medicine. I am especially pleased to see the establishment of the anti-aging lab as a sign of our deepening partnership. NTU’s Department of Biochemical Science and Technology has conducted a lot of research on plants, animals, and microorganisms as well as produced many talents. By working directly with companies, we can also better the results of industry-academia collaboration. NTU would like to thank Eastern for its contributions to help NTU improve its research and talent training capabilities.”
Associate Professor Dr. Edward Chern from the Department of Biochemical Science & Technology said, “The NTU Lab of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine has conducted research on the Echealth Haumanu Essence Supplement by conducting big data and ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) on transcriptomes, allowing us to statistically categorize the changes in the genetic expression of human mesenchymal stem cells after being stimulated with Eastern’s purtier placenta. The results showed that Eastern’s purtier placenta positively affected the strengthening of mesenchymal stem cell defense, cell homing, angiogenesis, expulsion crawling, cell survival, and other multifunctional gene expressions while inhibiting endothelial cell death. In the wound-repair experiment with diabetic mice, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups fed Eastern’s placenta and those treated with mesenchymal stem cells on days 3 and 7. However, the average skin wound healing rate was almost the same on day 10. On the other hand, the wound healing rate in the control group was significantly slower than that of the placenta-fed and cell-treated groups. The above results show that Eastern’s placenta can effectively promote wound healing, with effects comparable to that of a single MSC stem cell therapy. In addition, the results also suggest that this supplement can enhance the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory ability of human mesenchymal stem cells, the mechanisms of which we will further investigate in the future.
Despite the devastating impact of the pandemic in 2021 on Taiwan’s industries, Eastern Group and its subsidiaries Eastern Natural Beauty and Eastern Commerce Company achieved amazing results and won numerous domestic and international awards through diversified operations and active integration of online and offline businesses. When the National Brand Yushan Awards were held earlier this year, Eastern Group won 11 awards, including 8 awards for Eastern Commerce Company alone. The award ceremony was attended by Eastern Group President Gary Wang and Eckare General Manager Mei-Chi Chen. This marked yet another occasion in which Eastern Commerce Company has been recognized by national-level awards after previously winning 5 awards at the Asia Pacific Health and Biotechnology Award in October, proving once again the popularity and reach of the brand. Eckare’s subsidiary brand Mori Beauty also won an “Outstanding Popular Brand Award” for its popularity, while seven of its self-branded products were also awarded the “Outstanding Product Award,” including: the Alpenrose Ultra Renew Serum, Mori Beauty Protective Essential Oil Blend 01, White Tea Brightening Tone-up Cream, White Tea Moisturizing Lotion, Mori Beauty Facial Sheet Mask, Echealth Haumanu Essence Supplement, and Red Quinoa Pectin Plus. These awards are solid proof of the company’s exceptional capability and competitiveness in the market.
Gary Wang, president of Eastern Group, said “We are extremely grateful for the attention and praise the National Brand Yushan Awards have given Eastern Group brands, its cosmetic products, and supplements. And even though Eastern keeps careful track of product quality with the EHS Select program, we are also working with National Taiwan University and Fu-Jen Catholic University to form platforms such as the NTU-Eastern Biotech & Biomed Research Center, FJCU-Eastern Wellness and Fitness Industrial-Academia Collaboration Center, and FJCU-Eastern Big Data Center in an effort to draw in talents and improve product quality.” Mr. Wang pointed out that Eastern Group has always dedicated a lot of efforts to protecting and taking care of its consumers. In the future, they will continue to follow the global trend of integrating online and offline resources such as the Group’s beauty and pet stores, the Eckare e-commerce platform, and the international online sales channel Strawberry.com, integrating their traffic to better utilize big data. This will facilitate the continued expansion of sales channels and increased consumer adhesion, so that Eastern can improve its services and establish a food, cosmetics, and supplement Online merge Offline (OMO) environment.