Texas Business reports: AMARILLO—Amarillo Biosciences Inc. plants to open an Asia operations center in Taipei, Taiwan.

This center will enable ABI to increase its presence in Taiwan in order to access growing markets in mainland China and in other Asian countries.

“This new Asia Operations Center will explore new business opportunities in Asia, seek licensing opportunities, and evaluate investment proposals,” said chief executive Stephen Chen in a prepared statement. “Interviews for its new staff will begin immediately in an effort to have the center fully operational in the third quarter of this year.”

 The job openings include general manager, scientific and business administrators, and numerous project managers.

First, the Asia center will introduce healthcare products and technologies from the U.S. into the Asian markets, Chen said. Second, the center will identify and develop new strategic partners in the region.  Third, the Center will seek sources of financing when the need arises.  Fourth, the center will identify new healthcare products and technologies that can be brought into the U.S. from the Asian regions to be distributed by ABI.   

Amarillo Biosciences Inc. is a U.S. biotechnology firm operating in partnership with Hayashibara Company Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Nagase Group, which also holds 4% of Amarillo Biosciences shares and has provided over $18 million in loans, grants and equity investments. The company's primary focus is ongoing research and development of low-dose, orally administered interferon as a treatment for a variety of conditions, including influenza, hepatitis C, chronic cough, and opportunistic infections in patients who are HIV positive. The company has invested nearly $40 million to establish oral interferon as a therapeutic agent. The majority of those funds were invested in clinical trials in an effort to achieve FDA approval for interferon.