- Comprehensive review highlights potential of HOOKIPA’s versatile arenavirus platform as a new immunotherapy strategy to address critical unmet needs in cancer
- Pre-clinical and clinical data showcase potent, tumor-specific CD8+ T cell responses following intravenous administration of arenaviral immunotherapies
- Early clinical efficacy and safety observed with arenaviral immunotherapy, HB-200 offer promise for people with advanced Human Papillomavirus 16+ (HPV16+) cancer
“We believe there is broad potential for our foundational arenavirus platform to deliver novel immunotherapies for a range of cancers. The publication in Frontiers in Oncology validates the strength of our science as an emerging strategy in cancer treatment and offers hope to patients and clinicians who need more tools in their fight,” said
Taken together, the publication highlights several key advantages of HOOKIPA’s arenavirus platform, including the ability to:
- Directly target and activate antigen-presenting cells (APCs) to induce robust, polyfunctional CD8+ T cell responses;
- Target APCs without killing them (non-lytic), unlike other viral approaches which must infect tumor cells directly to be efficacious;
- Administer intravenously, which is accessible for all patients and less invasive than some intratumoral approaches required by other viral therapies;
- Further augment CD8+ T cell responses with administration of alternating vector therapy to levels previously not observed with other technologies;
- Induce sustained cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTLs) responses and durable anti-tumor activity, indicating immunologic memory;
- Potentially work synergistically with PD-1 inhibitors, helping expand the number of people who may benefit from therapy and improve long-term outcomes.
The article also reviews clinical data from the ongoing HB-201/HB-202 trial in people with advanced HPV16+ cancers. The clinical data, as presented at the
About HB-201/HB-202
HB-201 and HB-202 are HOOKIPA’s lead oncology candidates engineered with the company’s proprietary replicating arenaviral vector platform. Each single-vector compound uses a different arenavirus backbone (Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus for HB-201 and Pichinde Virus for HB-202), while expressing the same antigen, an E7E6 fusion protein derived from HPV16. In pre-clinical studies, alternating administration of HB-201 and HB-202 showed a ten-fold increase in immune response and better disease control than either compound alone. Both compounds are being evaluated in an ongoing Phase 1/2 study (NCT04180215) in individuals with treatment-refractory HPV16+ cancers who have progressed on standard of care, including checkpoint inhibitors.
About HOOKIPA
HOOKIPA is developing a broad pipeline of potential first-in-class arenaviral immunotherapies in oncology and infectious disease. We are leveraging our proprietary, versatile platform to engineer arenaviral therapeutics that induce robust antigen-specific CD8+ T cells and pathogen-neutralizing antibodies to a broad range of self and non-self antigens, including viral antigens, tumor-associated antigens and neoantigens. Our immunotherapies are designed to use either non-replicating or replicating viral vectors based on the target disease, with the potential to induce CD8+ T cell response levels previously not achieved by other immunotherapy approaches.
HOOKIPA’s pipeline include three ongoing clinical trials in Human Papilloma Virus 16-positive cancers and Cytomegalovirus, as well as preclinical research in prostate cancer, HIV and Hepatitis B. The latter two are in collaboration with Gilead Sciences, Inc.
Find out more about HOOKIPA online at www.hookipapharma.com.
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 for HB-101 and other programs, and other matters that could affect the sufficiency of existing cash to fund operations and HOOKIPA’s ability to achieve the milestones under the agreement with Gilead. 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 annual report on Form 10-Q for the financial year ended
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