Uzbekistan is the most populous country in Central Asia with 36 million people. The country has the only plant in Central Asia specializing in insulin production for the treatment of diabetes. Uzbek authorities aim to develop 90 pharma projects worth $1.2bn by 2026.

Ripples from the COVID-19 pandemic can be felt across Asia Pacific as investment from foreign firms into the region dropped by 45% from 2019 to 2020, and continued its decline in 2021 to 34%.

Biomedicine is a priority sector for Taiwan. The government has goals to establish Taiwan as the capital of biomedical research and development in the Asia-Pacific region. The country is striving to develop 20 new medicines, bring 80 high-value medical devices to market, and build biomedicine into a trillion-NT-dollar industry by 2025. Tax incentives and other credits will help expand the scale of the biotech and pharmaceutical industry.