HOOKIPA doses first patient in HB-201 Phase 1/2 trial for HPV16+ cancers

 
	
HB-201 is an immunotherapy to treat Human Papillomavirus 16-positive (HPV16+) cancers
	
HPV has been estimated to cause nearly 5% of cancers worldwide, majorly due to HPV serotype 16
HOOKIPA Pharma Inc.,  a developer of immunotherapeutics that target cancers and other infectious diseases based primarily on its proprietary arenavirus platform, recently announced that dosing for the first patient was completed in HB-201’s Phase 1/2 clinical trial (NCT04180215).
HB-201 is an immunotherapy to treat Human Papillomavirus 16-positive (HPV16+) cancers. It will be the first clinical trial in immuno-oncology for HOOKIPA.
Apparently, HB-201 is essentially a TheraT platform-based vector that comes from the arenavirus family while expressing a highly antigenic and a non-oncogenic E6/E7 fusion protein from the HPV16. HB-201, under the preclinical studies, had been observed to be extremely immunogenic which would result in a sturdy CD8+T cell response in comparison to the levels that were induced by other approaches, which include adoptive cell therapies. 
HOOKIPA also observed a strong anti-tumor activity in the mouse models besides exhibiting a strong immunogenicity. The company firmly believes that HB-201 has the potential to help provide a therapeutic advantage to patients in the HPV16+ cancer setting.
HOOKIPA’s Chief Executive Officer, Joern Aldag stated that the company is looking forward to starting the first-in-human testing with the help of HB-201, its first clinical trial in immune-oncology. The translation of promising preclinical data for all cancer patients will be an important milestone for the company.  
Aldag further added that the approach of the company is capable of supercharging the natural defense mechanisms by having induced sturdy T cell responses for the benefit of the patients who are affected by infectious diseases and cancer.
THE HB-201 Phase 1/2 trial is basically an open-label dose-escalation as well as a dose-expansion trial to be done in 100 patients suffering from treatment-refractory HPV16+ cancers. It has been designed for the evaluation of tolerability and safety as well as preliminary efficacy of the HB-201 as a monotherapy and for combination therapy with an immune checkpoint inhibitor.
 
Source credit- https://ir.hookipapharma.com/news-releases/news-release-details/hookipa-announces-first-patient-dosed-phase-12-clinical-trial-hb