The YongLin Healthcare Foundation will partner with BioNTech to develop mRNA-based cancer immunotherapies, according to Terry Gou (???), founder of the foundation and manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.
In a post on his Facebook page Friday night, Gou said BioNTech is also planning to set up a clinical trial hub in Taiwan for mRNA-based cancer immunotherapies as part of its Asia-Pacific expansion.
Echoing Gou, the German biotech firm, known for its widely used mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, said in a separate statement that it will collaborate with the YongLin Healthcare Foundation after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Retain Biotech Corp.
Retain Biotech, a Taiwan-based company sponsored by the foundation, is engaged in precision and genomic medicine and cell therapy for treating cancers, BioNTech said.
Gou said BioNTech has set up an office in Taiwan and launched its first project — BNT113 — aimed at doing an initial assessment of its cancer product candidate BNT113, which is targeted at treating head and neck cancers.
Taiwan is expected to participate in BioNTech’s mRNA-based cancer immunotherapy development, Gou said, while the German company said BNT113 is expected to be the first among several novel cancer immunotherapies that it anticipates assessing in the region.
Under the MOU, Retain is expected to support the clinical evaluation of BNT113 in a randomized Phase 2 clinical trial across the region, according to the German company.
“BioNTech’s mRNA technology has not only saved the world from the COVID-19 pandemic but also raised hopes that the technology will help medical circles take a leap in cancer treatment,” Gou said.
“That has been the original intention of BioNTech founder and CEO Ugur Sabin, and it is the first time for him to think his wish to beat cancer will come true.”
BioNTech executives came to Taiwan in January at Gou’s invitation to visit the National Taiwan University Cancer Center and get a clearer picture of Taiwan’s cancer treatment environment, its medical equipment and achievements in the biotech field.
While in Taiwan, the executives took stock of Taiwan’s needs and worked on mapping out a blueprint for treating cancer in Taiwan in the future, Gou said.
In July, Gou led a delegation to the headquarters of BioNTech in Germany to brief Sabin on Taiwan’s plans to work with the company on head and neck cancer, breast cancer and leukemia.
In his Facebook post Friday, Gou praised the partnership, saying Taiwan could not afford to be left behind in the battle against cancer.
Commenting on the partnership with Retain, Sean Marett, chief business and chief commercial officer of BioNTech, said his company’s goal was to accelerate the development of innovative therapies to help address cancers which have been highly prevalent in the region.
BioNTech said it planned to evaluate BNT113 in the broader Asia-Pacific region starting with clinical trial sites in Taiwan and the state of Victoria in Australia.
It will also assess with Retain the extension of clinical activities to Japan, South Korea, Singapore and other East Asian economies for other cancer-related therapies, which currently encompasses 18 product candidates in 23 ongoing clinical trials.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel