SoVarGen, stands for SOmatic VARiations GENomics, is a biopharmaceutical company aiming to discover novel therapeutics and diagnosis for intractable CNS diseases caused by low-level somatic mutation.
Epilepsy is a major brain disorder that affects over 50 million people worldwide. Nearly 30 percent of patients suffer from intractable epilepsy which is not controlled by conventional drugs. The beginning of SoVarGen came from research by professor Jeong Ho lee, KAIST, who was the first to identify the causes of intractable epilepsies. Professor Lee also serves as CTO of SoVarGen.
Professor Lee approaches to the various neurological disorders from brain somatic mutation point of view. He also set up the patented mouse models for malignant brain disorders derived from human genes for the first time in the world. This new approach by molecular genetics diagnosis explains that the exact target underlying diseases and based on this validated target, SoVarGen is dedicated to developing novel diagnostics and breakthrough therapies for incurable brain disorder.
With our core values, which are Sincerity, Values for Patients and Global Standard, we promise to contribute to patients’ health and happiness.
- We aim to develop novel diagnostics and therapeutics for incurable brain disorders.
- We pioneer the new concept that low-level of genomic alteration acquired in the brain can cause various neurological disorders such as intractable epilepsies, brain tumors, autism, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease.
- We provide the advanced diagnostics to accurately detect brain-only mutations with low frequency and guide clinicians and patients toward the appropriate diagnosis and treatment decision.
- We discover new drugs based upon genetically and molecularly validated targets in patients’ brain as well as best disease models with brain mutations.
Dr. Lee received his Ph.D. and M.D. degree from Yonsei University College of Medicine (Korea) and postdoctoral training at Institute for Genomic Medicine, Department of Neuroscience, UC San Diego/HHMI.
Mr. Kim is President & Chief Executive Officer at SoVarGen. Prior to joining SoVarGen, Mr. Kim served as several leadership positions over the years, most recently as president of Seoul Tourism Organization. Prior to that, he was president of BT&I (currently SM C&C) and Senior Advisor at BioLeaders. He was awarded the Iron Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit for quality management from Korea government.
He eared his M.S. degree in Sungkyunkwan University.
Dr. Oh received his Ph.D. and M.D. degree from Yonsei University College of Medicine (Korea).
He received his MBA degree from New York University (USA) and BA degree from Korea University.
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By co-working with worldwide lab, SoVarGen is to develop truly innovative diagnostics and therapeutics for incurable brain disorders with patients’ brain tissues.
SoVarGen is actively seeking partnerships and collaboration opportunities from preclinical research center to global partnerships.
- Completed innovated new drug pipeline of ASO based brain mutation (Patent of animal model is mandatory required)
- Completed setup of NGS based brain mutation diagnosis service
- Identified causes of childhood brain tumor and development of treatment (publication approval in Nature Medicine)
- Identified brain mutations leading to intractable brain tumors and presented new treatment (publication approval in Nature)
- Established SoVarGen Co., Ltd with KAIST professor joint
- Patents of Incurable brain disorders transferred to SoVarGen
- Identified mechanisms of epilepsy and autism caused by brain somatic mutations (presented in Neuron)
- Started clinical trial phase II for intractable epilepsies caused by brain somatic mutations
- Awarded Suh Kyungbae Foundation (SUHF) Investigator prize
- Applied for a patent on prevention and treatment of glioblastoma (Korea)
- Applied for a patent on animal model induced glioblastoma and drug screening using the same animal model (Korea)
- Applied for a patent on diagnostic compositions related glioblastoma and related diseases (Korea)
- Awarded Wunch Medical Prize (Young Medical Scientist), Korean Medical Association & Boehringer Ingelheim
- Received three visits of clinical trial representative from Novartis Headquarters regarding clinical trail plan
- Applied for a patent on prevention or treatment compositions for intractable epilepsies including mTOR inhibitor (Korea)
- Applied for a patent on diagnosis and treatment compositions for intractable epilepsies (Korea)
- Invited to present in Novartis medical lab, Boston, USA
- Invited to present in Novartis Advisory Board Meeting, Switzerland
- Awarded Pediatric Epilepsies Award, CURE (Citizens United for Research on Epilepsy)
- Applied for a patent on NGS-based diagnostic kit for diagnostics of intractable epilepsies (Korea)
- Identified causes of brain somatic mutations in MTOR leading to intractable epilepsy and presented new treatment (presented in Nature Medicine)
- Applied for a patent on Animal Model for epilepsy and method for producing the same (USA)
- Applied for a patent on brain somatic mutations associated to epilepsy and uses thereof (USA)
- Applied for a patent on animal model for epilepsy and method for producing the same (Korea)
- Applied for a patent on brain somatic mutations associated to epilepsy and uses thereof (Korea)
- Applied for a patent on biomarker for epilepsy diagnostics
- Awarded Asan Medical Prize (Young Scientist), Asan Foundation
- Identified brain somatic mutations as cause of intractable epilepsy (presented in Nature Genetics)
