2020 Flashback: Peptides as VACCINES

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]We've developed this synthetic peptide vaccine platform over the last two decades.

[00:00:03]>> So, I'd like to start uh before we introduce the founders of Kovac with my partner Dr. Peter Demandis. And Peter, would you kind of ceue up a little bit of how this has come about? Maybe introduce if you would Lou and Maymay.

[00:00:15]>> Sure. So, Tony, I appreciate your time today. I've gotten to know uh Lou Ree and Mayay who are here with me today as the co-founders and co-CEOs of uh the company we're talking about, Kovac. uh a parent company called United Biomed um is an incredible story, a 30-year-old company, the one of the leading manufacturers of vaccines around the planet. UBI incredibly currently manufactures 500 million doses per year, 400 4.5 billion doses in animal health of the same exact uh vaccine platform.

[00:00:53]Talk about that. Yeah. So, UBI is um the parent company of Kovac and it's probably the oldest biotech company that you've never heard of. Uh we cut our teeth in antibbody testing and then developing vaccines and we basically develop manufactur them and we've historically had third parties uh distribute them. Um but you know we've developed this synthetic peptide vaccine platform over the last two decades. Uh we commercialize the first ever fully synthetic peptide vaccine against an infectious disease and then next against indogenous protein. And what that means is, you know, we never touch the virus.

[00:01:24]We're completely no biohazard risk. So we currently manufacture um and vaccinate, you know, against some of the most virulent infections. And we manufacture this in the middle of Shanghai City. So very rare. Um and it just kind of shows the safety of our platform.

[00:01:40]And you know, as you mentioned, Peter, right now, uh we manufacture 500 million doses a year. We've commercialized over four and a half billion. So we know how to do it. We know how to scale up. We know how to deliver vaccines. and we can do it for under, you know, a dollar a dose. So, it's based on this platform that we've leveraged and now decided to to basically apply it to co 19. And we're really excited about the results that we have so far uh that we're taking into humans.

[00:02:04]>> When you say these human trials, you're talking ones related to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's. Are those the ones you're speaking of?

[00:02:09]>> You're right, Tony. A sister company to Kovac, which is using the same platform, the same technology. Think about the same machinery just a different tip is been focused on Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, migraines, hyper cholesterolmia, and those four human clinical trials uh have demonstrated uh effectively a near perfect safety record. There's been minor adverse events, but nothing significant that we're concerned about. So we have a high degree of confidence that this platform is innately safe in humans which a lot of the other vaccines don't yet have.

[00:02:45]>> Can you give us maybe a metaphorical difference of what it's like to mix synthetic peptides to provide that laser-like response in the immune system as opposed to building a factory that would traditionally is being done and being done using live virus as an example. I mean reality is that this is chemistry to mimic biology and as a consequence it's as simple as mixing paint. So when you're mixing chemicals you can do it at scale. It's highly replicable which means that you don't have uh you don't have bad batches.

[00:03:18]Um and it's highly scalable and a smaller area and at a much lower cost.

[00:03:24]So to put it in perspective, we can build plants for approximately a tenth as much and deliver a larger number of annual doses.

[00:03:33]>> How soon will you be going into human trials because you've been doing preclinical and animal trials? And where are you going to do that? I understand that the location in Nebraska that the DoD uses and that uh the president's the POTUS office uses is the place that you're considering doing this or have they already accepted you? Can you clarify both when you're going into human trials and some of the organizations that are are part of this besides Taiwan because I understood is Taiwan not paying 90% of your human trials? Is what I'd heard? I want to make sure that's accurate.

[00:04:01]>> Yeah. No, we have a very close relationship uh with the Taiwan CDE and so we're on a rolling review and our plan is to actually go into humans later this month. Um and they're going to uh help sponsor the phase one and the phase two trials there. Uh concurrently we're actually doing trials in the US. We're doing a parallel trial. Uh so we're doing a phase one with the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which is also the home of the National Quarantine Center and the Global Center for Health Security. These are the same guys um that the Teddy Roosevelt uh you know, captains came into, where the Diamond Princess cruise ship guys came into.

[00:04:34]These guys, you know, save the world. Um you know, this is where if anyone in the US has a question about it, they pick up a hotline and uh you know, it's it's University of Nebraska. Um, >> a wider known fact is that if you watch the movie Contagion or Outbreak, they're the guys in the suits that deal with the end of the world.

[00:04:51]>> Yes. The department and the Department of of uh defense goes to them. Correct.

[00:04:55]And as well as the presidential's office to make those types of decisions.

[00:04:59]>> It is basically the national >> they're the highest standard in the US at this stage. I guess >> it is. It serves the White House, the Department of Defense, the Pentagon. Um like you said this is this is the gold standard and we're we're you know unbelievably um blessed because they you know they've did the rem desave trial so that was the first treatment trial in the US and they selected us as their vaccine trial.

[00:05:21]>> So and they also they also did your testing are they not your exclusive partner for testing as well? Yeah, you know, they they tested uh they did a wide screen of all the antibbody tests out there and they chose us as their exclusive P corology partner. Um mainly because the the we're the most accurate test out there.