HOOKIPA Pharma Achieves $5 Million Milestone Payment from Gilead Sciences for Progress in the Development of Hepatitis B Vaccine
HOOKIPA Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOK) announced a $5 million non-dilutive milestone payment from Gilead Sciences under their collaboration agreement. This payment corresponds to the completion of a regulatory support package for a Phase 1 clinical trial of a hepatitis B therapeutic vaccine utilizing HOOKIPA's arenavirus platform. The trial is set to dose its first participant in 2023. HOOKIPA is eligible for additional milestone payments exceeding $190 million, alongside tiered royalties on net sales as it advances its innovative immunotherapy developments.
- Achieved a $5 million non-dilutive milestone payment from Gilead.
- Phase 1 clinical trial for hepatitis B vaccine is progressing with first participant expected to be dosed in 2023.
- Eligible for additional milestone payments exceeding $190 million.
- Potential for tiered royalties on net sales.
- None.
NEW YORK and VIENNA, Austria, Jan. 04, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HOOKIPA Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOK, ‘HOOKIPA’), a company developing a new class of immunotherapies based on its proprietary arenavirus platform, today announced that it has achieved a
“We’re proud of our team for achieving this milestone in our collaboration with Gilead and excited that the hepatitis B candidate is progressing to the clinic,” said Joern Aldag, Chief Executive Officer. “Chronic hepatitis B infection remains an area of considerable unmet need, and we look forward to seeing the potential impact of our novel arenaviral platform as a component of care.”
Of note, preclinical data on the hepatitis B vaccine as a potential component for a curative regimen were recently presented at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and selected by AASLD as a “Best of the Liver Meeting” highlight (Balsitis S et al, Abstract 23, page 7). Gilead is solely responsible for further development and commercialization of the hepatitis B product candidate. HOOKIPA is eligible to receive milestone payments based on the achievement of specified development, regulatory, and commercial milestones up to a total of more than
The hepatitis B program is one of two independent development programs in HOOKIPA’s collaboration and license agreement with Gilead. The other program aims to develop a novel arenaviral vaccine as a component of a potential functional curative regimen for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HOOKIPA is responsible for advancing the investigational HIV therapeutic vaccine through completion of a Phase 1b clinical trial.
About HOOKIPA
HOOKIPA Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOK) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel immunotherapies, based on its proprietary arenavirus platform, which are designed to mobilize and amplify targeted T cells and thereby fight or prevent serious disease. HOOKIPA’s replicating and non-replicating technologies are engineered to induce robust and durable antigen-specific CD8+ T cell responses and pathogen-neutralizing antibodies. HOOKIPA’s pipeline includes its wholly owned investigational arenaviral immunotherapies targeting Human Papillomavirus 16-positive cancers, prostate cancers, and other undisclosed programs. HOOKIPA is collaborating with Roche on an arenaviral immunotherapeutic for KRAS-mutated cancers. In addition, HOOKIPA aims to develop functional cures of HBV and HIV in collaboration with Gilead.
Find out more about HOOKIPA online at www.hookipapharma.com.
For further information, please contact:
| Media | Investors |
| Instinctif Partners | Matt Beck |
| hookipa@instinctif.com | Executive Director - Investor Relations |
| +44 (0) 7457 2020 | matthew.beck@hookipapharma.com |
| +1 917 209 6886 |
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements set forth in this press release constitute “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as “believes,” “expects,” “plans,” “potential,” “would” or similar expressions and the negative of those terms. Such forward-looking statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause HOOKIPA’s research and clinical development programs, future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainties inherent in the drug development process, including HOOKIPA’s programs’ early stage of development, the process of designing and conducting preclinical and clinical trials, the regulatory approval processes, the timing of regulatory filings, the challenges associated with manufacturing drug products, HOOKIPA’s ability to successfully establish, protect and defend its intellectual property, risks relating to business interruptions resulting from the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease outbreak or similar public health crises, the impact of COVID-19 on the enrollment of patients and timing of clinical results, and other matters that could affect the sufficiency of existing cash to fund operations. HOOKIPA undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. For a further description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the business of the company in general, see HOOKIPA’s quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2022, which is available on the Security and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov and HOOKIPA’s website at www.hookipapharma.com.
Investors and others should note that we announce material financial information to our investors using our investor relations website (https://ir.hookipapharma.com/), SEC filings, press releases, public conference calls and webcasts. We use these channels, as well as social media, to communicate with our members and the public about our company, our services and other issues. It is possible that the information we post on social media could be deemed to be material information. Therefore, we encourage investors, the media, and others interested in our company to review the information we post on the U.S. social media channels listed on our investor relations website.
FAQ
What is the recent milestone payment for HOOKIPA Pharma?
What does the milestone payment relate to?
When will the first participant in the Phase 1 trial be dosed?
How much total milestone payments can HOOKIPA receive from Gilead?
What is the significance of HOOKIPA's arenavirus platform?
