Gavin Herbert is winning converts to his latest venture, which is trying to solve Long Covid.
The founder of Allergan is stepping aside as chairman of TechImmune LLC after convincing infectious disease expert James Young, a co-founder of MedImmune, to take on the role of executive chairman.
“I looked at the data and thought this is remarkable,” Young told the Business Journal. “I thought this could be an important opportunity on a disease that’s affecting a lot of people—long covid.
“I was super impressed.”
TechImmune is based on technology invented by Dr. L’bachir BenMohamed, a professor at University California, Irvine. The company, which began in 2021, is expecting to raise up to $50 million in the coming two rounds to fund clinical trials that could begin next year, Young said.
While the COVID-19 pandemic is over, Long Covid is still affecting about 400 million worldwide, including an estimated 10 million Americans. No FDA-approved therapies currently exist.
“The pandemic is done, but the virus is not gone,” Young said. “There are more hospitalizations due to COVID than flu. It’s not going away.”
TechImmune’s chief executive is Dr. Jeffrey Ulmer, who served as global head of External Research at Novartis.
Besides building Allergan into a powerhouse with the help of the blockbuster drug Botox, Herbert also began the environmental remediation firm Regenesis, which Time Magazine said had one of the 200 best inventions of 2024. Herbert, who the Business Journal honored with its first-ever Lifetime Achievement Recognition in January, said he will remain active in TechImmune as its vice chairman.
“You could hardly get anyone with more qualifications for this job than James Young,” Herbert told the Business Journal.
Usher in DNA Age
Young, a molecular virologist by training, began his career in the late 1970s when studies were just beginning into gene cloning and how viruses work on a molecular level. Young said he helped “usher in the DNA age” by developing protein drugs.
“It was the dawn of bio tech,” Young said. “The big pharma companies realized that they were being passed by biotech companies with their novel approaches. They were behind the eight ball, thinking everything had to be a pill, and they didn’t think injectables were worthwhile.”
Young helped establish and lead the Department of Molecular Genetics at SmithKline and French Laboratories (now part of GlaxoSmithKline) and served as a faculty member in the Department of Microbiology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.
In 1989, he co-founded MedImmune, where he oversaw the development of multiple products, including FluMist, the first intranasal influenza vaccine, and Synagis to prevent respiratory syncytial virus disease, which was the first monoclonal antibody marketed for an infectious disease. MedImmune was sold in 2007 to AstraZeneca for $15.6 billion.
In 2005, Young was honored with the Albert B. Sabin Humanitarian Award in recognition of his contributions to public health.
He joined the board of directors of Novavax Inc., where he eventually became the chairman for 14 years (Nasdaq: NVAX). He was involved in the Operation Warp Speed effort, the U.S. government’s coordinated initiative to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines during the height of the pandemic.
Novavax developed Nuvaxovid, the only protein-based SARS CoV-2 vaccine marketed worldwide.
After Young retired in March, he was approached by Herbert and Jim Cavanaugh, who is also a board member of TechImmune and who was previously president of SmithKline & French. Young has known both men for decades.
The Covid Spread
COVID-19, which initially impacted the lungs, can also harm to other organs, Young said.
The company’s research on people who had COVID-19 infections found that those who died often lacked T-cells against the virus; T-cells are a type of white blood cell critical to the immune system.
“Those with mild infections had lots of T-cells,” Young said.
TechImmune is developing a T-cell–based immunotherapy to address the root cause of Long Covid by clearing persistent SARS-CoV-2 reservoirs in the body and restoring functional anti-viral immunity. Its lab tests on mice have shown positive results. If clinical tests are successful, it will be the first approved disease-modifying treatment for Long Covid.
“It all fits together in a nice package that gives us significant belief that we can have an impact.”
TechImmune Prepares to Start Clinical Trials
Gavin Herbert used his deep industry connections from his decades at Allergan to assemble a dream team of vaccine experts for his latest biotech venture, TechImmune.
Herbert recruited Dr. Jeffrey Ulmer to be the company’s chief executive after a mutual connection and former senior vice president at Allergan, Don Frail, suggested he reach out to Ulmer.
Ulmer and about eight other experts in virology, immunology and coronavirus biology initially convened in a scientific advisory board meeting to discuss a next-generation COVID-19 vaccine being developed by TechImmune.
“The feeling was unanimous amongst all of the experts that this was definitely worth pursuing,” Ulmer told the Business Journal.
What excited the board in particular was early research done by Dr. L’bachir BenMohamed, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, and his team. The data found that COVID-19 patients with more T cells, a type of white blood cell, directed toward certain viral proteins remained asymptomatic or displayed minor symptoms compared to those with fewer, who experienced serious outcomes, including death.
“This type of target validation you usually don’t get early in a pre-clinical program like this,” Ulmer said. “Typically, you only get that kind of feedback when you do clinical trials in humans.”
The company is currently focused on what needs to get done before starting a Phase 1 clinical trial, according to Ulmer.
He said that they are evaluating two lines of research involving Long Covid in human and animal patients.
The first pre-clinical study seeks to understand the deficit in immune responses and identify biomarkers within human patients with Long Covid.
Running parallel to the human study is a second study looking to see if an immunotherapy can reduce or eliminate symptoms of Long Covid in animals.
“We expect to have that data wrapped up by the end of the year” Ulmer said about the animal model study.
While it’s still too soon to predict a timeline for commercial launch, Ulmer said that “with success,” the company will enter development in early 2026 toward an investigational new drug (IND) clinical trial.
TechImmune claims to be the only company focusing on a T cell-based immunotherapy for Long Covid.
The company eventually plans to broaden its portfolio to treat other diseases.
“The overall strategy that we have taken is amenable to other infectious disease targets, particularly certain chronic infections,” Ulmer said.
