Brief history of HepC Inc
The idea of using non-pathogenic viruses for the treatment of viral disease was based on clinical observations. In patients suffering from hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection an accidental hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection often suppresses HBV replication, and vice versa. In such cases viruses are swapped but hepatitis remains. The Hungarian-born American physician Dr. László Csatáry proposed first to treat viral diseases by attenuated veterinary vaccine viruses which are harmless to humans. First, he demonstrated the feasibility of the idea in a monkey model in 1983.
Before direct acting antiviral (DAA) HCV therapy was available, a phase II clinical trial demonstrated the safety and efficacy of IBDV therapy on more than 40 patients with acute HBV and HCV infection in 1998. The publication, which was co-authored by Dr. Tibor Bakacs, was reported by the REUTERS news agency. The German Paul Ehrlich Institute evaluated the IBDV therapy and found it promising in 1999. Unfortunately, the IBDV program was abandoned.
HepC Zrt was established in 2004 with the mission to rescue the IBDV therapy. The most important goal was to develop a reverse genetic technology that would replace traditional virus production in order to comply with new FDA/EMA requirements. The characterization of the reverse-genetic engineered drug candidate (IBDV-R903/78) was supported by European, Hungarian and US grants (~2.5M EUR in total). With our German partner, ProBioGen AG, the production was scaled up such that a GMP IBDV-R903/78 drug candidate could be produced for millions of patients by simple and cheap production technology in a proprietary cell line making the drug candidate accessible even to lower-income countries.
Leadership
Tamas Bakacs, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Tamas Bakacs, MBA, is an experienced Portfolio Manager and Corporate Finance professional with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry; specialist in the areas of commodity linked equity investments, biotechnology startups, private equity and real estate investments. Mr. Bakacs founded his own corporate finance advisory business, Snow Leopard Capital Management Ltd., which provides tailored corporate finance advice to startup, small capitalization and middle market businesses regarding mergers and acquisitions, leveraged and management buyouts, debt restructuring and private placements of debt and equity. Previously, Tamas was a global equity portfolio manager in Budapest, Hungary, in Edinburgh, UK., and in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where he managed various global equity investment funds, all specializing in the commodity sector or in natural resource-based investments. Mr. Bakacs holds a B.S. in Accounting, Summa Cum Laude, from St. Francis College in New York and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. In addition, he is also a member of the Advisory Board of Skyharbour Resources Ltd., a Canadian uranium exploration and development company listed on the TSX.v venture exchange.
Tibor Bakacs, MD, PhD, DSc
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Tibor Bakacs is a Hungarian medical doctor, a clinically trained scientist with over 40 years of experience, publisher of 100 scientific papers. Together with his colleagues, he developed an antiviral agent which could provide broad protection against multiple viruses, acting much like an antibiotic does for bacterial infections. Based on his auto-GVHD theory of immune-related adverse events (irAEs), an ultra-low dose immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) blockade protocol was developed and proven to be safer than that of the established protocols without compromising efficacy in 131 advanced cancer patients. He worked for longer periods at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK, and at the National Cancer Institute of NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Imre Kovesdi, PhD
Chief Operating Officer
Dr. Kovesdi has over 30 years of experience in the development of therapeutic drugs in both large pharmaceutical and biotechnology environments. He is an accomplished scientist as well as biotechnology entrepreneur. Imre served as the Chief Executive Officer of VectorLogics, a privately held biotechnology company developing virus-based cancer therapies. He supported the merger of VectorLogics with DNAtrix a US based oncolytic virus company. Previously, he served as Chief Scientific Officer for 10 years at GenVec Inc. (NASDAQ:GNVC). He was responsible for the integration of key scientific advances and business objectives. Prior to joining GenVec, he led infectious disease projects at the Medical Research Division of the New York-based American Cyanamid Company for six years. As President of KILA Consulting LLC., he established several business collaborations between biotechnology companies and institutions. Dr. Kovesdi is versatile facilitator, skilled at developing preclinical, clinical and licensing partnerships, able to identify foundation solutions to major health issues. Imre was a postdoctoral fellow at The Rockefeller University, in New York and received a PhD in molecular biology from Simon Fraser University and a BAS in electrical engineering from University of British Columbia. He is the holder of over 100 US and international patents and has authored over 130 scientific articles in the areas of virology, gene delivery and molecular biology. Imre has also served on the boards of a number of biotechnology and information technology companies.
Prof Slavin pioneered the use of personalized anti-cancer immunotherapy mediated by donor lymphocytes and innovative methods for stem cell transplantation for malignant and non-malignant disorders, including treatment of autoimmune diseases and induction of transplantation tolerance to bone marrow and organ allografts. He opened the first bone marrow transplantation (BMT) unit officially recognized as Israel’s National Bone Marrow Transplantation Center. For 30 years Slavin served as the Director of the Department of Stem Cell Transplantation & Cancer Immunotherapy of the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. More recently, Slavin pioneered the use of multi-potent mesenchymal stromal cell for regenerative medicine. Slavin authored 4 books, 660 scientific publications and serves on many editorial boards and many national and international advisory boards. Slavin received many international awards in recognition of his contributions for treatment of malignant and non-malignant disorders. At present, Prof Slavin operates his clinic, Biotherapy International, The Center for Innovative Cancer Biotherapy; Regenerative Medicine in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Dr. Lizonova is an accomplished scientist with over 25 years’ experience in discovery, development and quality control of therapeutic drugs in both large pharmaceutical and biotechnology environments. Alena was the Director of Analytical Sciences and Quality Control at GenVec, Inc. acquired by Precigen, USA (https://precigen.com). Previously, she was Manager of Tissue Culture Core Facility at the New York-based American Cyanamid Company. She is highly experienced in personal relations, directing numerous employees at all levels and interacting with contract testing and manufacturing organizations. As a visiting scientist she worked in Helsinki University Finland, the Paul-Erlich Institute, Germany and at the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre, New York, NY. Alena received her Ph.D. at the Cancer Research Institute, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. She is skilled at developing solutions, organizational problems and handling budgets. She published over 40 technical papers and is a holder of 12 US and international patents.
Paul A. Stolk
Mr. Stolk has more than 20 years of experience in international investment management and business development as a managing director in the pharmaceutical sector. He is very experienced on bringing ideas to the market (e.g. Despharma – a product being now sold in 35 countries worldwide). He is also chairman of the board member of the Netherlands – Hungarian Chamber of Commerce, and vice-president, formerly president of the European bilateral Chambers of Commerce in Hungary.