Technology

August 2024

COV (SARS-CoV-2) & Long COVID

Since early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on public health, economies, and quality of life worldwide. While vaccines and public health measures helped reduce the incidence and severity of acute infections, millions of individuals continue to suffer from Long COVID, a complex post-viral condition with persistent, debilitating symptoms. In the U.S. alone, 10–20 million people are affected, with 3–3.5 million projected to seek treatment for moderate to severe disease, creating a sustained and growing public health challenge.

Unlike acute COVID-19 infections, Long COVID cannot be fully addressed with current vaccines or existing antiviral therapies. TechImmune’s next-generation T-cell–based immunotherapy offers a novel approach, targeting the root cause by clearing persistent SARS-CoV-2 reservoirs and restoring functional anti-viral immunity. This approach has the potential to deliver the first disease-modifying treatment for Long COVID, providing meaningful relief for patients and reducing the ongoing burden on healthcare systems.

CURRENT SITUATION AND FUTURE NEEDS

While acute COVID-19 infections have been mitigated through vaccines and public health measures, a growing population continues to suffer from Long COVID, a chronic, multi-system condition affecting millions worldwide. Current vaccines and antiviral therapies are insufficient to address the root cause of Long COVID, as they do not clear persistent SARS-CoV-2 reservoirs or restore functional T-cell immunity. The endemic nature of COVID-19 ensures that the need for effective, disease-modifying interventions will persist, creating a substantial opportunity for therapies that target the underlying viral triggers. TechImmune’s T-cell–based immunotherapy is designed to fill this unmet need by boosting protective T cell responses, offering the potential to be the first approved therapeutic treatment for Long COVID.

The Need

For patients with Long COVID, vaccines and existing antiviral therapies do not address the underlying factors that result chronic symptoms. This underscores the urgent need for therapies that go beyond existing approaches, targeting the root cause of disease and restoring functional immune responses.

The Opportunity

TechImmune is developing a first-in-class T-cell–based immunotherapy that focuses on conserved non-spike viral antigens, boosting protective T-cell responses to clear persistent SARS-CoV-2 reservoirs. This approach addresses a critical unmet need, offering the potential to become the first disease-modifying treatment for Long COVID while serving a large and growing global patient population.

PARTNERSHIP WITH UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE (UCI)

TechImmune was formed in 2021 and is developing a treatment for Long COVID; a medically urgent condition affecting millions of Americans for which no FDA-approved therapies currently exist. Using technology invented by Dr. Lbachir BenMohamed, a professor at University California, Irvine, the project has been a joint UCI-TechImmune effort, with pre-clinical evaluation supportive of lead candidate elevation to development. This collaboration has enabled TechImmune to translate a proven technology platform into a potential groundbreaking immunotherapy for a significant unmet medical need.

GRANTS AND CONTRACTS

In February 2023, TechImmune, LLC was awarded a business (SBIR) grant from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH) to develop a Universal Vaccine Against Multiple Coronavirus Variants of Concern.

Additional grants pending

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