Orange County Business Journal – September 8th, 2025

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.