HOOKIPA Pharma Inc. a company developing a new class of immunotherapies based on its proprietary arenavirus platform, announced a strategic collaboration and license agreement with Roche to develop HB-700 for KRAS-mutated cancers and a second undisclosed novel arenaviral immunotherapy. This represents HOOKIPA’s first oncology licensing collaboration.
Through the collaboration, HOOKIPA will conduct research and early clinical development through Phase 1b for HB-700, a novel investigational arenaviral immunotherapy for the treatment of KRAS-mutated cancers. Upon the completion of the Phase 1b trial, Roche has the right to assume development responsibility and to commercialize licensed products across multiple indications upon approval. The agreement also includes an option for Roche to license a second arenaviral cancer immunotherapy.
“Roche is an ideal partner, both in terms of development and reaching patients with novel cancer therapeutics. We look forward to working with them to benefit people with KRAS-mutated cancers,” said Joern Aldag, Chief Executive Officer at HOOKIPA. “This collaboration validates the potential of our arenavirus platform and accelerates the development pathway to bring new treatments to people with cancer.”
“We are excited to collaborate with HOOKIPA in leveraging their arenaviral technology, which has clinically demonstrated the ability to induce potent antigen specific CD8+ T cell responses and represents a promising approach for new cancer immunotherapies,” said James Sabry, Global Head of Pharma Partnering at Roche. “This collaboration further strengthens our leadership in oncology, and we are optimistic about advancing this innovative platform to potentially provide more options for people with KRAS-mutated cancers, as well as other potential cancer types.”
Under the terms of the agreement, HOOKIPA will receive an upfront payment of $25 million. Roche will have the option to expand the initial collaboration by adding an additional product candidate, whereafter HOOKIPA will receive an additional $15 million payment at option exercise. Including this option payment, HOOKIPA is eligible for research, development and commercialization milestone-based payments for HB-700 and the additional product candidate totaling up to approximately $930 million. Upon commercialization, HOOKIPA is eligible to receive tiered royalties of a high single-digit to mid-teens percentage on the worldwide net sales of HB-700 and the additional product candidate.