Pitch 1-4 :Preventive and therapeutic vaccine against Hepatitis B using a novel HBs-L antigen

[Summary]

Hepatitis B is a contagious disease that damages the liver. The current treatment modalities fail to achieve hundred percent cure. The vaccines available to prevent Hepatitis B infection have become obsolete or non-responders, with slow onset and ineffectiveness against escape mutant. This has called for developing a new therapeutic approach for preventing the clinical ailment. Therapeutic vaccine is believed to meet the objective of Beacle Inc., a start-up involved in developing treatment options for Hepatitis B infection.

Beacle Inc. has developed a new Antigen which is effective as preventative and therapeutic vaccines. The Hepatitis B virus has three classes of surface antigen, i.e., S, N and L, of which L Antigen releases a large amount of antibodies on immunological interaction. PS1 antibody produced by one genotype may not be effective against other genotypes. This feature ignited the forward step for Beacle Inc. in developing the novel LH antigen, which can produce PS1 antibody that can bind to the four major genotypes. They have tracked down the LH antigen characteristics implemented in the development of preventive as well as therapeutic vaccines (which has LH antigen as its active ingredient).

They have already set its foot into small-scale production, with the first pharmacological study yielding five patent products. The company is planning to start clinical trials in 2019 or 2020, which needs an investment of US$3 to 5 million for further development in the field of initial clinical studies. The goal is to establish a healthy ecosystem in Japan and around the globe with our innovative products.

[Mentors' comments]

　" Maybe we need a more detailed business plan I think and also we need a kind of market sites and also are you a target market share.?"Mr. Shogo Nakamori, PAREXEL International

　" I was impressed with the therapeutic response where over 60% of patients had undetectable DNA at 24 weeks. That's really impressive."Dr. Kevin Grimes, Stanford University

[Profile]

After 25 years experience in drug discovery and development in Shionogi, Yasumasa Goh has moved to Nagahama Institute of Biotechnology as a professor, and then joined Beacle Inc as CEO.