BioGate Precision Medicine Corp. announced an innovative vaccine solution for COVID-19 on August 31st at Taipei. By stimulating the human immune system with combination of subunit vaccines, high titer of neutralizing antibodies and cytotoxic T cells are produced rapidly, potentially allowing treatment and prevention of COVID-19 pneumonia. BioGate's aim is to provide a solution for the world to help end the global economic hardship caused by isolation and quarantine resulting from the COID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Frank Huang, Chairman of BioGate Precision Medicine Corp.

BioGate has committed in the field of immunotherapy and developed innovative vaccine technology platforms that can be used to target different diseases. For example, various therapeutic vaccines against different self-antigens have been produced using this platform, and the preliminary efficacy results have been demonstrated in animal models of prostate cancer, cancer bone metastasis, cancer cachexia and rheumatoid arthritis. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, BioGate has also been devoted to the development of a COVID-19 vaccine solution.

"Superior to the traditional vaccine which has to rely on adjuvant to boost immune responses, our unique vaccine technology platform circumvents immune tolerance by generating antibodies against self-antigens and also by producing high-intensity immune responses to weak foreign antigens without using adjuvants.,” said Dr. Frank Huang, Chairman of BioGate "so that vaccines with therapeutic and preventive effects can be developed for many diseases."

In response to the development of COVID-19 vaccines by many companies all over the world, Chairman Huang points out that most of the vaccines use the full-length S-protein (spike protein) or the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the COVID-19 virus as the antigen. In contrast, the core technology platform developed by BioGate can effectively target multiple critical domains of Sprotein as well as other key proteins of SARS-CoV-2 to activate both B lymphocytes to produce neutralizing antibodies and Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) to eliminate both free viruses and virus-infected cells.

BioGate has investigated dozens of subunit vaccines in preliminary studies which have demonstrated to generate specific antibodies with high titers and with high potent neutralizing activities. Data from T cell assays also proved that T cell responses can be highly induced by these subunit vaccines, paving the way for development of combinatorial vaccines (vaccine cocktail) in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

About BioGate Precision Medicine Corp.

BioGate Precision Medicine Corp. (herein after referred to as BioGate) was founded in February 2015 with funding from the affiliates of PowerChip group and operates based on the networked business model.

BioGate focuses on the development of first-in-class drugs. We identify and acquire innovative technologies with great potential from both academia and biotech industries, and closely works with outsourced organizations, taking those innovative technologies through various stages from early R&D to clinical proof-of-concept (POC) and further seeking for out-licensing opportunities.

The Chairman, Dr. Frank Huang, has grown up from a family of medical doctors. After graduating from the Department of Physics, National Taiwan University, he received a Ph.D. degree from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Then he became first a professor at National Taiwan University and Taipei Medical University, subsequently the founder and CEO of the Powerchip Technology Corporation. He has been able to overcome various obstacles one by one and has successfully transformed the Powerchip Technology Corporation into a profitable company. From a professor to a prominent businessman with a strong passion for medical science, Dr. Huang has recently dedicated himself in the research and development of immuno-oncology and precision medicine, hoping to make great contribution to human health.

The CEO, Dr. Chia-Lin Jeff Wang, the former CEO of the Development Center for Biotechnology (DCB), a non-profit R&D institute, spent 15 years in the US chemical and pharmaceutical companies. He has had strong connections among biotech industries, government agencies, and research institutes. Dr. Wang is in charge of the preclinical and clinical development, as well as the collaboration with local and global partners.

Currently, we have 15 researchers led by Dr. Leroy F. Liu (Academia Sinica Academician), focusing on the research of immunotherapy for the development of innovative cancer drugs and therapeutic vaccines. Under the leadership of Dr. Liu, our research team has developed an innovative vaccine technology platform. This unique technology can break immune tolerance and enhance immune response through innovative designs of the antigens, allowing strong induction of immune response against either self or weak antigens without using adjuvants.

So far, BioGate has developed a variety of therapeutic vaccines targeting different diseases using our technology platform and their efficacy was proven on various animal models including prostate cancer, bone metastasis, cancer cachexia, and rheumatoid arthritis. This year, due to COVID-19 outbreak, BioGate has also been devoted to the development of COVID-19 vaccine, doing our best for the well-being of Taiwanese people and all mankind.