Who is Mr. Ho Nhan – the person behind Nanocovax?

On March 18, the Government Office has just issued Document 1685/VPCP-KGVX conveying the opinion of Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam on the results of considering the issuance of a registration certificate for the circulation of the Nanocovax vaccine.

The COVID-19 vaccine Nano Covax, researched and developed by the Military Medical Academy in collaboration with Nanogen Company, will begin phase 3 of clinical trials to evaluate the vaccine’s protective effect on the community before licensing it for storage. act in an emergency situation.

The COVID-19 vaccine Nanocovax, researched and developed by the Military Medical Academy in collaboration with Nanogen Company, will begin phase 3 of clinical trials to evaluate the vaccine’s protective effect on the community before marketing authorization. in emergency situations.

The COVID-19 vaccine Nanocovax has been developed by Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Joint Stock Company since May 2020. The vaccine began testing phase 1 from December 18, 2020, phase 2 from February 26, 2021 and phase 3 officially from June 11, 2021.

If granted a circulation registration certificate, Nanocovax will be the first vaccine successfully produced in Vietnam.

However, few people know that behind the success of a Vietnamese enterprise capable of becoming the first unit to successfully produce a COVID-19 vaccine in Vietnam is a very secretive person.

The founder of Nanogen is Mr. Ho Nhan, an American overseas Vietnamese and son-in-law of businessman Nguyen Thi Son – Founder of Son Kim Group. After many capital calls, currently the foreign ownership rate in Nanogen is 22.7%, the rate of domestic investors is 77.2%.

Famous biotechnologists

Mr. Ho Nhan grew up in New York, USA, earned a doctorate in biotechnology from the University of Arizona and cherished the dream of starting his own biotechnology company. He worked as a hired worker to save money, then with a classmate he opened a company specializing in research and analysis services for pharmaceutical and chemical companies.

However, with a passion and talent for research in pharmacology, pharmacology, and drug manufacturing technology, Dr. Ho Nhan decided to return to Vietnam to live and work since 2006.

After returning to Vietnam for a long-term settlement, Mr. Ho Nhan opened a small laboratory in Tan Phu district, before moving the facility to the High-Tech Park of Ho Chi Minh City. Going step by step from basic research, small investment, creating a clinical trial product and then making a large production investment, he continues to pour profits into research.

Mr. Nhan said, Nanogen invested 40 million USD from personal money and borrowed from relatives and friends. The company can now control over 90% of the basic steps in the process of making a biotech drug product, depending on the type. The remaining proportion, though small, for example some technological know-how, is paid by the company to buy the rights to foreign research, usually from a few tens of thousands to several million US dollars.

Mr. Nhan’s way of integrating domestic gray matter and international research was recognized by Dr. Nguyen Duc Thai, Tan Tao University and University of Natural Sciences in Ho Chi Minh City as “smart” because it “changed” part of the structure” thereby creating another product, helping Nanogen escape the charge of Roche intellectual property piracy.

In April 2013, Mr. Ho Nhan was invited to the Board of Directors of VinaSecurities Securities Company, which suffered losses for many years in a row. Previously, living in the US, this biotechnologist had experience in the financial sector, through mergers and acquisitions in the fields of pharmaceuticals, hospitals, medical equipment in the US and Hong Kong.

According to the doctor, this businessman, after selling an analysis company in the US, Mr. Nhan entered the financial market, buying and selling companies in the medical industry.

Mr. Nhan once led a valuation team for private equity investments in the medical industry of a fund in Hong Kong that, according to him, is worth billions of dollars.

In addition, Mr. Nhan is also known as the son-in-law of businessman Nguyen Thi Son – Founder of Son Kim Group. Mr. Nhan’s wife, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Van is also the Director of Nanogen company.

Join the “race” to produce vaccines

Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Co., Ltd. has its headquarters in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City. This is also where the factory is located. The company’s northern representative office is located at 777 Giai Phong, Giap Bat ward, Hai Ba Trung district, Hanoi.

Nanogen registered its main business as the production of drugs, pharmaceutical chemicals and medicinal herbs. The legal representative and also the Chairman and CEO of Nanogen, is Mr. Ho Nhan, born in 1966, Vietnamese nationality. Initially established, Nanogen has a charter capital of 200 billion VND, all of which are private capital.

The founding shareholder is Mr. Ho Nhan, contributing VND 140 billion, holding 70% of the company’s shares. Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hong Van, Mr. Nhan’s wife, contributed 50 billion VND, holding 25% of the shares and Mr. Ho Vu Thanh contributed 10 billion VND, owning 5% of the shares. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Van is also the Director of Nanogen.

After many changes, now the charter capital of Nanogen has increased by 2.6 times compared to the time of establishment, to 715 billion VND. In which, foreign shareholders are holding more than 22.7% capital.

Some notable foreign shareholders are Stic Private Equity Fund III (Iceland) holding 7.7% shares, Next Science Co (Korea) holding 10.5% …

Up to this point, Vietnam has 4 licensed units to research COVID-19 vaccines, namely the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (IVAC), the No. 1 Vaccine and Biological Products One Member Company Limited (Vabiotech), the Center for Research in Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (IVAC), and the No. Research on Production of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (Polyvac) and Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Co., Ltd.

In particular, Nanogen is the only private unit involved in the production of COVID-19 vaccines in Vietnam, and also the earliest human vaccine trial unit.

The main technology applied by companies is the use of antigens and recombinant proteins. This technology is similar to other vaccine development countries in the world.

According to the latest information, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has asked the Ministry of Health to urgently implement the Prime Minister’s direction according to the document No. 1027/VPCP-KGVX dated February 17, 2022 of the Office Government and other relevant documents; continue to guide and support enterprises in all cases as prescribed by law.

The COVID-19 vaccine Nanocovax has been developed by Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Joint Stock Company since May 2020. The vaccine began testing phase 1 from December 18, 2020, phase 2 from February 26, 2021 and phase 3 officially from June 11, 2021.

The National Biomedical Research Ethics Council had a meeting to review the updated report and supplement the results of the mid-term clinical trial of the Phase 3 clinical trial of the Nanocovax vaccine on December 16, 2021. Accordingly, concluding that the Nanocovax vaccine meets the safety and immunogenicity requirements, additional data on protective efficacy is required.