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HOOKIPA Pharma Achieves $5 Million Milestone Payment from Gilead Sciences for Progress in the Development of Hepatitis B Vaccine

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 $5 million non-dilutive milestone payment under its collaboration agreement with Gilead Sciences, Inc. HOOKIPA completed and delivered a regulatory support package for Gilead’s Phase 1 clinical trial of an investigational therapeutic vaccine for chronic hepatitis B using HOOKIPA’s arenaviral platform. The first participant in the Phase 1 clinical trial is expected to be dosed in 2023.

“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 $190 million. HOOKIPA is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on net sales.

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.

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