| Name | Title | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|
Yuhong Qiu |
VP, Regulatory Affairs | Profile |
Jim Pepin |
General Counsel | Profile |
Univercells is a technology company offering novel biomanufacturing platforms, aimed at increasing the availability and affordability of biologics – recombinant proteins and vaccines - for all. Univercells designs innovative production processes to significantly decrease the size of the necessary equipment and facility, for a lower capital and operational cost. The company`s process intensification and integration technology entails smaller footprint and unit cost while offering flexible capabilities, from small to large batches. Deployment of affordable production units enables `in-country, for-country` biologics production, creating value for manufacturers and healthcare systems with cost efficiency and local supply while increasing patients` access to healthcare. Univercells was founded in 2013 by experienced entrepreneurs Hugues Bultot, CEO, and José Castillo, CTO, who bring close to 25 years of expertise in the biotechnology and life sciences sectors. Headquartered in Gosselies (Belgium), Univercells benefits from support from the Walloon region, and received €3 million from Takeda in 2015. Most recently, the company was awarded a $12 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
At LAVA, we are focused on applying our expertise in gamma-delta T-cell engagers (TCEs) to transform cancer therapy. We refer to our compounds as gamma-delta bispecific T-cell engagers, or gamma-delta bsTCEs. Our platform generates therapeutics that specifically activate a unique and relatively abundant effector gamma-delta T-cell subset called Vγ9Vδ2 (Vgamma9-Vdelta2) T-cells that have the ability to trigger activity of immune cells of both the innate and adaptive immune system. Our gamma-delta bsTCEs have demonstrated superior efficacy and safety profiles compared to other bsTCE approaches in preclinical studies and show preferential activity against tumor cells thereby potentially limiting toxicity in healthy tissue. To date, we are the only company developing bispecific gamma-delta T-cell engaging antibodies for the treatment of cancer. We are building a pipeline of gamma-delta bsTCEs that have applications in both solid and hematologic malignancies. Our lead program, LAVA-051, targets the tumor specific antigen CD1d, which can be overexpressed in multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), among other tumor types. LAVA-051 will enter a Phase I/IIa study in 1Q21.
Clovis Oncology is a Boulder, CO-based company in the Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotech sector.
Aqualung Therapeutics (ALT) is developing multi-pronged strategies to address the development of severe lung inflammation which is essential to the severity and outcomes of acute and chronic lung disorders such as acute lung injury, ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and pulmonary hypertension.
Reviva Pharmaceuticals is a San Jose, CA-based company in the Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotech sector.