GenPhar plans to produce HIV drug resistance test

GenPhar, considered by Charleston business leaders as one of the most promising local technology firms, has operated quietly since it was founded three years ago.

That is about to change. The company will announce this week that it has secured $8 million in financing from 60 individual investors and that it has partnerships with two big government agencies: the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Army.

By the end of the year, GenPhar hopes to have its first product on the market, a test to determine HIV drug resistance in AIDS patients. It also hopes to begin clinical testing early next year of a vaccine for AIDS and other viruses, and it also hopes to test a new treatment for tumors.

“One reason we have become more visible – and will become more visible – is that there will be a product out there,” said Steve Hutchinson, the company’s chairman and chief financial officer. “So we are familiarizing ourselves with our customer base and will become active by differentiating it and for the first time talking about its functionality.”

The company’s vaccine has attracted the most attention. Traditional vaccines typically build a body’s own defense mechanisms by introducing a weaker form of the virus or bacteria.

GenPhar’s vaccine builds that immunity by mimicking an infection – essentially acting as a “sheep in wolf’s clothing,” company officials say.

The vaccines have thus far been shown to work on HIV and hepatitis B in mice and monkeys, but the company believes it will work for other diseases “The vaccine platform is quite versatile,” said Dr. John Dong, GenPhar’s chief scientific officer and a professor at the Medical University of South Carolina. “It’s been adapted to multi-infection agents. It can also be adapted to other diseases.”

The NIH has agreed to fund and perform its own trials on GenPhar’s HIV vaccine in rhesus monkeys, and company officials said they plan to start clinical trials on humans early next year.

Meanwhile, the Army wants to test the vaccine on the Marburg virus – which is similar to the Ebola virus – for defense purposes, so the company has signed an agreement with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases for further testing.

The vaccine can not only work in the prevention of diseases like AIDS but also in treatment, said Dr. Bill Shannon, vice president for clinical and scientific affairs.

Company executives said the vaccine could lead to considerable growth in the company. Dong said the Army has suggested GenPhar manufacture the vaccine itself for security reasons. Thus, the company is looking for investors to build a manufacturing facility.

The firm’s first product to be on the market is the drug-resistance test, which executives say is better than current tests. That product will lead to a doubling of the firm’s employees from 20 to 40.

GenPhar’s third product would treat cancer at the molecular level. Dong said the problem with solid tumors is that the cells do not have an aging function, and thus they don’t die like normal cells.

The company is working on a treatment that tells the cells to age, so they die on their own with few patient side effects. Shannon said testing thus far has been “remarkable” for its ability to make tumors “go away completely.” In general, Dong said the company’s goal is to set a precedent for other biotechnology firms to follow and to create an environment conducive to their growth.

“We are the lone ranger for high-potential biotech companies in South Carolina,” he said. “We want to establish an investment environment in biotech in South Carolina. The impact of this can generate job opportunities for the local economy.”