Oral antisense platform · Thailand · USA · Canada
Written in the language of your own DNA.
immugence designs oral antisense candidates — short strands that bind a single messenger-RNA sequence, a lock cut for one key. Built from DNA information, not chemicals. A three-country operation and research across Thailand, the United States and Canada, through immugence and Immunitor.
Peer-reviewed papers
founding team · PubMed journal articles
Invention families
21 filings · status shown per document
US FDA orphan designations
all three designated
Same team, one lineage
continuous since 2000
Regulatory recognition
Three U.S. FDA orphan-drug designations.
The platform's lineage holds what almost no first-time company does: three formal designations from the United States Food & Drug Administration's Office of Orphan Products Development — all three granted, none withdrawn. Don't take our word for it: every card below opens that designation's own record on the FDA's database.
hepcortespenlisimut-L
FDA orphan designation: “Treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma” · designated 17 Dec 2014
FDA record status — Designated · Not FDA Approved for Orphan Indication
tubimod
FDA orphan designation: “Treatment of active tuberculosis” · designated 10 Apr 2017
FDA record status — Designated · Not FDA Approved for Orphan Indication
Mycobacterium vaccae
FDA orphan designation: “Treatment of tuberculosis” · designated 23 Dec 2019
FDA record status — Designated · Not FDA Approved for Orphan Indication
Depth of intervention
The smaller the tool, the deeper the fix.
A bolt's head decides the wrench that fits it. Biology is the same: the level you can act on decides how close to the source of a problem you can get. Most medicine works on the body's large structures. An antisense candidate works at the smallest, most upstream level there is — the genetic message itself, read before a faulty protein is ever made.
- Organ
Organ transplant
Replace the whole failing part
- Tissue
Surgery
Cut away and repair tissue
- Whole-body
Conventional drugs
A broad chemical signal, felt across the whole system
- Cell
Cell therapy
Add, remove, or replace living cells
- Signal
Hormones
Adjust the body's chemical messages
- Molecule
Enzymes & proteins
Tune the molecular machines once they already exist
- Message
Antisenseimmugence
Correct the genetic instruction — before a faulty protein is ever built
This describes where each approach acts in the biological hierarchy — not a claim that one outcome is better than another. immugence candidates are investigational; they act on the RNA message and never edit your genome.
Why we exist
You cannot give antibiotics to someone who is not ill — that is how resistance is bred. Nor can you put a healthy household on antivirals: toxicity, cost, and the need to keep taking them.
Preventive medicine is what the field has always wanted to do and could not — not for want of money, but because the safety bar for anything given to a person who is not yet sick sits higher than older drugs could clear.
That is the problem we chose to work on — a problem that begins with one question, asked before any other: how do you clear that safety bar?
A personal view on the problem the field faces — not a claim about the properties or efficacy of any immugence product. Our candidates are investigational and are not approved as medicines in any jurisdiction.
The science
Antisense, explained without the mystique.
The idea is old and well-understood; the hard part is making it work by mouth. Here is exactly what an immugence candidate does — and what it deliberately does not.
One sequence, one target
Each candidate is designed to complement a single messenger-RNA. Like a key cut for one lock, it binds where it should and nowhere else.
RNA-level, not gene editing
Antisense silences a signal by binding mRNA. It does not cut, rewrite, or insert anything into your genome — the DNA is left untouched.
Oral, no viral vector
Carried by a magnesium-chloride matrix and taken by mouth. No injection, no AAV, no lipid nanoparticle to clear.
Why magnesium changes the game
Antisense works. The hard part is delivering it by mouth.
Antisense is proven science — several injectable antisense drugs are already FDA-approved. The genuinely hard problem is making it stable and absorbable as an oral pill. Our answer is a magnesium-chloride matrix (MgCl₂·6H₂O) — a carrier the body already knows.
enzymes use Mg²⁺ as a cofactor
magnesium is not foreign to the body
viral vectors · liposomes · nanoparticles
no immunogenic or toxic carrier
acts at the mRNA level, never the genome
silences a signal, does not edit genes
Head to head
Mg-ASO vs. the industry-standard delivery systems
The properties of each carrier are widely published. This is the design rationale behind our platform.
Why magnesium
A carrier the body does not treat as an enemy.
The magnesium chloride hexahydrate matrix (MgCl₂·6H₂O) makes an antisense strand stable enough to survive the stomach and be absorbed — with no lipids, PEG, or viral capsid. Magnesium is an ion the body already uses in more than 300 enzymes, giving it a safety profile fundamentally different from synthetic carriers.
- Taken by mouth — no injection
- No anti-PEG IgM as seen with LNPs
- No genome-integration risk as with AAV
- Simple, scalable manufacturing
Proprietary platform invented by
Pharm. Vichai Jirathitikal
Designed without a foreign chemical payload
Built from DNA information.
Nothing the body treats as foreign.
An antisense oligonucleotide is a short, designed strand of nucleic acid — the same alphabet your cells already read. It carries information, not a foreign chemical payload. That is the design principle behind it, and it is the most honest thing we can tell you about safety.
What it is
A strand of genetic information
a coded message that silences one signal — designed to match a single target, taken by mouth
What it is not
- Synthetic chemicals
- Foreign proteins
- Peptides
- Live cells
- Hormones
The hard questions
“Too good to be true.”
We hear it often — so let's talk.
Skepticism is the correct response to extraordinary claims. We'd rather you bring it than walk away. Here are the four objections we hear most, answered plainly.
Antisense itself is established science — several injectable antisense drugs are already approved by major regulators. The genuinely hard problem we work on is making the chemistry stable and absorbable by mouth. We don't ask you to take that on faith: the mechanism is in the textbooks, and the founding team's clinical trials are published in 70 peer-reviewed journal articles on PubMed that you can read.
Judge the work, not the postcode. Our research is published in international, peer-reviewed journals; our advisors hold positions at institutions such as Mahidol and a Finland Distinguished Professorship. Credibility here is built from verifiable records, listed with their sources.
Because we are early, and we publish before we promote. immugence candidates are investigational and in research and development — we are deliberately not running consumer hype. What exists today is preclinical evidence, a published patent record, and three granted FDA orphan-drug designations, each documented on its own page.
By design — we went where the disease is. Ukraine carries one of the world's highest burdens of drug-resistant TB; Mongolia has the world's highest rate of liver cancer. Testing each candidate at the epicenter of its disease gives the fastest, clearest read-out. That is deliberate trial design, not convenience.
No single pill does. immugence is a platform, not a miracle product: each indication is a separate candidate with its own target, its own data, and its own honest stage of development. We make no cure claims, and nothing on this site is a registered treatment.
The receipts
A 25-year published record — the science the platform is built on.
Our founding team's oral-immunotherapy work — through Immunitor, the same corporate family — is indexed, peer-reviewed, and patented. The Mg-ASO antisense platform extends it. Every item below links to its primary source.
Open-label Phase II of oral Hepcortespenlisimut-L in 75 advanced liver-cancer patients
Phase III, placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind trial of tableted, therapeutic TB vaccine (V7) containing heat-killed M. vaccae administered daily for one month
Phase IIb randomized trial of adjunct immunotherapy in patients with first-diagnosed tuberculosis, relapsed and multi-drug-resistant (MDR) TB
Orphan-drug designation — Hepcortespenlisimut-L for hepatocellular carcinoma
Viral vaccine composition, process and methods of use — the foundation IP
Oral composition and methods for immunotherapy — metal-bound antisense delivery
In development
Twenty oral candidates. One Mg-ASO platform.
Each candidate adapts the same magnesium-stabilized antisense chemistry to a different target sequence. Stages are shown honestly — most are early; the leading programs draw on the team's published clinical evidence.
For hospitals, clinics & wellness centers
We are a platform — not a competitor.
immugence is a technology and solution provider. We don't open clinics to compete with you; we hand you the science so you become the Center of Excellence. Partners bring our antisense platform into their institution and lead in the area they choose to own.
License the platform
Technology transfer of our antisense chemistry, oral-delivery matrix, and design know-how — under a clear partnership agreement.
Build your Center of Excellence
Stand up a co-branded program in the therapeutic area you choose. Your institution leads; we provide the science underneath it.
You lead, we support
Training, supply, and scientific support from immugence. You own the patient relationship, the brand, and the clinical leadership.
BangkokThe first platform research & demonstration center
We built the first one ourselves — so you don't have to start from zero.
Immugence World is our own platform research and demonstration center in Bangkok — the reference implementation of the model we hand to partners, spanning people, plants and animals. Its people-facing space, INMUNIC Health Lounge, is a place for knowledge, products and wellness. Medical care and follow-up sit with physicians at partner hospitals; we provide the technology and the data. It is exactly what your Center of Excellence can look like.
Programme areas open to partners
Disclosed programmes
The people accountable
Real names, real work, real pride — open to verify.
A company with no famous name out front earns your trust through the people behind it — and the work they've built. Published papers, patents, and clinical trials are all verifiable. We'd rather you check than take our word.
Vichai Jirathitikal
Pharm. · Co-Founder & CTO
Inventor of the magnesium-stabilized oral antisense platform; principal inventor across the patent portfolio.
immugence · Immugence World, Bangkok
Patchalit Klinhorm
Co-Founder & CEO
Brings the platform to market and leads the Centers of Excellence program.
Founder, ECG Venture Capital
Holland Cheng
PhD · Scientific Advisor
Structural biology, cryo-EM and vaccine design; bridges to global academia.
Finland Distinguished Prof. · UC Davis · Karolinska
Pisut Pongchaikul
MD, PhD · Advisor
Medical microbiology, bioinformatics and pathogen genomics.
Asst. Prof., Mahidol University
Jonathan P. Wong
PhD · Advisor
Antisense delivery and antiviral defense; three decades at DRDC Canada.
Director, Dove Pharmaceutical Consulting
Aldar S. Bourinbaiar
MD, PhD · Co-Founder (1957–2024)
Founder of Immunitor; co-inventor of the V1/V5/V7 science and the Mongolia–Ukraine trial network.
Immunitor, USA
Who has examined our work
Independent investigators, on the record.
The most powerful answer to “too good to be true” is a stranger with credentials who looked at the science. Here is who studied the technology behind immugence — their institution, what they investigated, and exactly what they found. Every name links to the source.
Independent trial sitesAcademic hospitals & cancer centers that ran the trials (our team as co-authors)
Dr. Galyna A. Kutsyna
Luhansk State Medical University · Ukraine
Dept. of Infectious Diseases
Co-led the Ukrainian clinical trials of oral immunotherapy in TB and TB/HIV co-infection.
Dr. Olga V. Arjanova & team
Lisichansk Regional TB Dispensary · Ukraine
Prihoda · Yurchenko · Sokolenko · Frolov
Ran adjunct-immunotherapy trials in re-treated, multidrug-resistant and HIV-coinfected TB.
Dr. Dmitry A. Butov
Kharkiv National Medical University · Ukraine
TB immunotherapy trialist
Led the Phase IIb trial of oral TB immunotherapy (V5).
Dr. Jigjidsuren Chinburen & team
National Cancer Center of Mongolia
Batchuluun · Munkhzaya · Purevsuren
Conducted the Phase II/III liver-cancer trials of hepcortespenlisimut-L (V5) in advanced HCC.
We label these honestly: the trial-site investigators led the studies at their own institutions, with our team as co-authors and sponsor. Investigational research — not a treatment claim.
In the media
Reported by others — verify for yourself.
Coverage and releases about the founding team's work, 2011–2025. Each opens at its original source in a new tab. Distinct from the peer-reviewed evidence above.
immugence opens a new chapter for Thai medicine — the country's first DNA-based therapeutics forum
Hosted under ECG Immunitor, with global researchers (Jonathan Wong, Holland Cheng, Pisut Pongchaikul) and senior officials from Thailand's Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research & Innovation, the Ministry of Public Health, and BIOTEC in attendance.
Read at THE STANDARD“It may sound futuristic — even too good to be true — but it rests on molecular biology and genetic data, backed by extensive research and rigorous testing at every step.”
— THE STANDARD, on the science behind immugence
More coverage of the founding lineage
Immunitor releases positive results of TB immunotherapy from its second clinical site
Read full articleImmunitor releases Phase IIb TB immunotherapy results — second clinical site
Read full articleCoverage and company releases of the Immunitor lineage · each link opens at its original source.
For the scientists & clinicians
Still not convinced?
Here is everything.
Everything above is the short version. If you want the full evidentiary record — every publication with its PMID, every patent, every designation, the preclinical datasets and the institutions that have backed this work — open the complete dossier.
Thirty-three sources, by area — click any to verify at its source
Exact counts of the papers laid out on this page — 25 PubMed links, 6 DOI, 1 PMC, 1 trial registration. The founding authors' PubMed record of peer-reviewed journal articles is 70 →. These 33 are the ones we put in front of you to click.
33 sources individually linked below — every one resolves on PubMed, a DOI, or PMC · the founders' PubMed journal-article record is 70 → live link at the end
V7 therapeutic TB vaccine — Phase III double-blind RCT
Hepcortespenlisimut-L in advanced HCC — Phase II
V5 adjunct immunotherapy in DS / relapsed / MDR-TB — Phase IIb
Hepcortespenlisimut-L for HCC — Phase III interim
V7 (M. vaccae, Longcom) oral pill in TB — Phase II RCT
V-1 Immunitor as a therapeutic modality for HIV — Phase II
Serodeconversion of HIV antibody-positive AIDS patients following treatment with V-1 Immunitor
Oral V-5 Immunitor in chronic hepatitis C — open-label
Adipose-derived oral preparation V-6 — safety & efficacy
The rest of the V-series record — every link resolves on PubMed, a DOI, or PMC. Don't take our word for it. The final group is the founding scientist's foundational antiviral research (pre-Immunitor, incl. two PNAS papers).
Read the complete corpus yourself — the founders' full author records, live on PubMed:
Patent portfolio — 6 shown of 21 filings
Composition of matter, process, and methods of use. Vichai Jirathitikal, principal inventor. Titles as registered with the USPTO / WIPO.
8 invention families · 21 filings incl. regional (EU/CN/RU/CA/ZA/AU) and Mg²⁺ antisense applications (2021+). No patent currently in force; two applications pending (US 2024/0415953 A1 · EP 4437110).
Government & preclinical datasets
Independent Thai government-laboratory results on the Mg²⁺ antisense platform.
Mg²⁺ antisense vs. African Swine Fever Virus
NSTDA / BIOTEC, WOAH-compliant qPCR + TCID50. ASFV genome reduced 17× (p=0.0009). PI: Dr. Teeradet Taweeratsilp.
BIOTEC P-2350898 · 2023Maxboost — shrimp immune priming
In vivo P. vannamei; phagocytosis +58% at day 14 (p<0.001). PI: Suparat Taengchaiyaphum.
NSTDA / BIOTEC · 2026Plant — cassava mosaic disease (CMD/SLCMV)
Field trials, Department of Agriculture + NSTDA + Mahidol.
DOA field programInstitutions that have backed this work
Independent validation a first-time team rarely assembles.
Grand Challenges Canada — Stars in Global Health
CAD 337,000 · 3 grants · 2013–2016
Stars in Global Health — an initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Three grants, 2013–2016 (CAD 337,000): two for tuberculosis immunotherapy, one for atherosclerosis immunotherapy. Grand Challenges Canada selected and administered the awards; the funding statements of the published trials name the programme and grant numbers.
CRDF Global — funded by the US Department of State
Grant UKB1-9017-LK-09 · Ukraine TB trial
CRDF grant UKB1-9017-LK-09 is named in the funding statement of the team's 2012 sublingual Immunoxel trial in Ukraine. CRDF Global is a U.S. non-profit authorised by Congress, whose science-partnership programmes are funded by the U.S. Department of State.
US FDA — Office of Orphan Products Development
Three designations granted — hepcortespenlisimut-L (2014) · tubimod (2017) · Mycobacterium vaccae (2019). None withdrawn; none approved for marketing.
Global network — 6 countries, 3 continents
Where the research, trials, IP and partnerships actually live.