The Journey of a Pharmaceutical Pioneer
When Dr. Jane Hsiao reflects on her career in pharmaceuticals, it’s hard not to marvel at the symmetry of her life. “I was born in a drugstore,” she laughs. “My father was a pharmacist and my mother a midwife. That night, she felt the baby was coming, closed the shop, went to the back kitchen, boiled water, and delivered me herself.” That scene – so intimate, so industrious – foreshadowed a life defined by science, grit, and resolve.
Today, Dr. Hsiao is a co-founder and executive at Opko Health, a multinational pharmaceutical and diagnostics company. Her journey from a small village in Taiwan to the helm of a global operation is a story of vision and perseverance – and a vivid example of the American Dream realized through science.
Born in 1940s Taiwan, Dr. Hsiao came of age in a country where academic opportunities, particularly for advanced pharmaceutical study, were limited. “In the 1960s, Taiwan didn’t have a good graduate program,” she says. So she applied to three American universities, was accepted to two, and chose the University of Illinois in Chicago for her PhD in medicinal chemistry.
She arrived alone, without family or friends, but with an unshakable sense of purpose. “It was a big culture shock,” she recalls. “But pharmacy was something I really loved.”
At the University of Illinois, she met her future husband, a fellow Taiwanese scientist whose focus was pharmaceutical formulation. “I actually got my Ph.D. before him,” she smiles. “I even helped him with his thesis.” After their marriage and the birth of their first child, she chose to stay home while her husband joined Key Pharmaceuticals, a company where his innovation in drug delivery – formulating sustained-release tablets and the first nitroglycerin patch – helped it flourish. Those inventions eventually propelled Key to a $300 million acquisition by Schering-Plough in 1986.
Dr. Hsiao, meanwhile, built her own path. While her husband advanced through corporate R&D, she launched an analytical services lab in a 1,000-square-foot warehouse in Davie, Florida. The lab quickly positioned her as a regulatory and technical expert. So, when her husband approached his previous boss at Key Pharmaceuticals, Phillip Frost, to co-found a new venture – Ivax Corporation – Dr. Hsiao’s analytical lab formed the technical foundation of the new company.
By 1991, their first major generic product had earned FDA approval. “Sales in the first year were over $120 million,” she recalls. The product, a once-daily version of verapamil for hypertension, highlighted Dr. Hsiao’s insistence on regulatory excellence. “I pushed the FDA. I knew everything was in place. I went to Washington myself. Within two weeks, we had the approval letter.”
Ivax grew into an international generic drug powerhouse, operating in 29 countries, before being sold to Teva Pharmaceuticals in 2006 for $7.4 billion. “I told Phil I was done,” Dr. Hsiao laughs. “But he had new ideas.” So, in 2007, she co-founded Opko Health, this time with a focus on proprietary drug development and diagnostics. Today, Opko’s portfolio spans biologics, diagnostics, and long-acting therapies, with labs and offices from New Jersey to Israel, and over 3,000 employees worldwide. But the headquarters in Miami remains lean. “Just about 100 people are here,” Dr. Hsiao says. “This building is brains only – strategy, finance, legal.”
Despite her success, Dr. Hsiao remains driven by the same spirit that brought her to Chicago decades ago. “In Taiwan, there are too many barriers. Here, $100 and a good idea can start a company. But it’s not about money – it’s about what you can build.”
