he Biotechnology business in what is known as the Greater China Economic Circle started from ground zero in 1984. On both sides of the Taiwan Strait the government took initiative in establishing qualified laboratories to run recombinant DNA experiments as well as monoclonal antibody workshops. There were only 4 companies with business in the "modern biotechnology" field in Taiwan in 1985, and none in China. However, this is not to say there was no biotechnology production activity in China. Under the centrally planned economic system most of PRC biotechnology program was run in government research institutes. These institutes were nevertheless able to produce products for commercial sales in China once development was complete. The price of the products were tightly controlled and only variable cost were charged. Very few of these domestically manufactured products were sold outside of China.

By 1997, approximately 45 companies with the word "biotechnology" identified in their charter were operating in Taiwan. The same statistics are more difficult to obtain for China. However, it is generally believed that the total number of companies is in the range of 200, mostly spin-off companies from previous government institutes.

Most of these biotech companies were start-ups from local sources. A few were joint ventures with US companies, particularly the larger projects.  Examples include Sinopharm, a project based on raw pharmaceutical division of formal Syntex Pharmceuticals professional, Genlabs Asia, and BioAsia Fund, each at a scale of $20 million to $100 million dollars.

The total value of sales from the biotechnology companies in Taiwan has been estimated to be $220 million, according to the Bureau of Industrial Development, Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The total sales value of biotechnology industry in China were estimated to be in the range of $100 million. The products with higher sales volume are: immunodiagnostics, research reagents for biotechnology laboratories, (e.g. monoclonal antibodies, DNA primers, customized protein, enzymes, etc.) Animal vaccines, human vaccines, medical material supplies, feed additives, and in the case of China, protein drugs which may or may not be under international patent protection.

Products made in Taiwan and China are typically sold within those countries because they do not have the strict regulatory approvals required for sale of those products in other countries.  

Since 1995 China and Taiwan have both adopted the "administration protection" policy so that new pharmaceuticals still under patent protection outside of China, but not yet protected in China, could be protected while the government required the patent owner to file for new drug application and the other procedures within China. The maximum protection could be as long as 7 years. Since then the piracy of pharmaceuticals still under patent protection has decreased significantly.