HOOKIPA Pharma Announces Leadership Changes to Intensify Focus on HB-200
-- Director Dr. Malte Peters named Chief Executive Officer and Director
Terry Coelho named Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
-- Company is conducting a review of its business operations and strategy to
determine best path to create shareholder value and realize the full
potential of HB-200
-- Sean Cassidy appointed to the Board of Directors
NEW YORK and VIENNA, July 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HOOKIPA Pharma Inc. $(HOOK)$ ("HOOKIPA" or the "Company"), a company developing a new class of immunotherapeutics based on its proprietary arenavirus platform, today announced the appointment of Directors Dr. Malte Peters as Chief Executive Officer and Terry Coelho as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective July 22, 2024. They will both retain their positions on the Board of Directors ("Board").
They succeed Jörn Aldag and Reinhard Kandera as CEO and CFO, respectively, who will be leaving the Company and stepping down from the Board.
Dr. Peters and Ms. Coelho, in close collaboration with the Board, will lead a review of HOOKIPA's business strategy and operations to determine the best path to realize the full potential of HB-200 and create shareholder value. The review process will not impact HOOKIPA's operations or clinical trials.
Dr. Jan van de Winkel, Chairman of the Board, said: "HOOKIPA has entered a critical new phase of its development for HB-200. The Company has received PRIME designation from the European Medicines Agency, reached alignment on a clinical development strategy with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration with a path to potential accelerated approval, and announced the pivotal Phase 2/3 trial design. The Company also continues to advance its other development programs, including those in collaboration with Gilead, with the first person recently dosed in the Phase 1b clinical trial of HB-500 for the treatment of HIV.
"The Board of Directors determined that Dr. Peters and Ms. Coelho are the right leaders to help the Company execute through this next stage of development and realize the significant opportunity HB-200 represents, with the aim of ensuring that the Company's attractive business prospects result in value for shareholders. Dr. Peters is a seasoned executive with deep experience in bringing new therapies to patients, while Ms. Coelho is a proven CFO with significant expertise in business strategy and development, finance, and M&A," Dr. van de Winkel continued.
The Company also announced that Sean Cassidy will join its Board of Directors, Audit Committee and Compensation Committee, effective July 22, 2024, succeeding Ms. Coelho as Chair of the Audit Committee. Mr. Cassidy most recently served as the Chief Financial Officer of Arvinas $(ARVN)$ through February 2024, where he led the company through numerous private and public financings as well as multiple business development transactions.
"I want to thank Joern Aldag and Reinhard Kandera for their contributions to HOOKIPA and wish them all the best for the future. I am also pleased to welcome Mr. Cassidy to our Board. He brings extensive financial experience that will help HOOKIPA in its next phase of development," Dr. van de Winkel concluded.
About Dr. Malte Peters
Dr. Malte Peters has over two decades of experience as an executive in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. He is among the most knowledgeable translational research and clinical development leaders in the industry, with deep operational and medical experience in oncology and immunology. Dr. Peters joined HOOKIPA's Board of Directors in January 2023 and served as the Company's interim Senior Clinical Advisor following the departure of the Chief Medical Officer in 2023. While in the role, Dr. Peters oversaw the implementation of an experienced drug development leadership team, as well as the development of the pivotal HB-200-004 protocol endorsed by FDA.
Dr. Peters most recently served as Chief Research and Development Officer at MorphoSys, where he oversaw the company's research and development pipeline, including the design and execution of three pivotal studies leading to global regulatory approval of Monjuvi/Minjuvi. Prior to MorphoSys, Dr. Peters was Global Head of Clinical Development of the biopharmaceuticals business unit of Sandoz in Germany. Dr. Peters also spent 12 years in leadership positions at Novartis Oncology, including Vice President, Clinical Head and Site Head for Basel, East Hanover and Shanghai. While at Novartis, he was responsible for multiple development programs and clinical trials, contributing to the approval of 28 cancer therapies.
Dr. Peters serves on the Board of Directors at Tango Therapeutics and is a Strategic Alliance Officer for the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC).
Dr. Peters is board certified in internal medicine. He earned his medical degree from Freie Universität in Berlin and was trained at the Universities of Padova, Italy and Bochum and Berlin, Germany. He received his habilitation in Internal Medicine from the University of Mainz, Germany.
About Terry Coelho
Terry Coelho has over 35 years of experience as a multinational leader and executive with broad business, strategic, and leadership experience across all areas of finance, business development, investor relations, commercial, and supply chain operations at companies in the pharmaceutical, consumer goods, and chemicals industries. Ms. Coelho joined HOOKIPA's Board of Directors in April 2023, bringing with her a proven track record of successfully leading business transformations, strategic planning, financings, business and organizational development, and business integration. At HOOKIPA, she has served as Audit Committee Chair and as a member of the Compensation Committee.
Ms. Coelho most recently served as CFO for Gamida Cell $(GMDA)$, where she led the Company's M&A and business development efforts and was instrumental in securing a successful strategic restructuring agreement for the Company. Prior to that, Ms. Coelho held a variety of executive leadership roles, including Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Development Officer for CinCor Pharma, Inc., where she successfully led the company through its 2022 IPO and large follow-on offering, as well as prepared the company for its eventual sale to Astra Zeneca. She also has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at BioDelivery Sciences International, and Chief Financial Officer at both Balchem Corporation and Diversey, Inc. Ms. Coelho's experience includes over seven years at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, primarily with the Oncology division, where she held roles of increasing responsibility focused on business planning and leading the global oncology development finance organization, and 20 years of experience with Mars Incorporated in senior leadership roles, including starting up the Mars chocolate business in Brazil as CEO and General Manager.
Ms. Coelho also serves on the Board of Directors, including as Audit Committee Chair, for both Entero Therapeutics and Inotiv, Inc.
Ms. Coelho graduated summa cum laude from The American University in Washington, D.C. and earned her MBA from the Instituto Brasileiro de Mercado de Capitais (IBMEC) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is a founding member of the CFO Leadership Council (Charlotte and Raleigh chapters)
About Sean Cassidy
Sean Cassidy brings over 20 years of experience in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and life sciences industries, most recently serving as the Chief Financial Officer of Arvinas (NASDAQ: ARVN) from July 2013 to February 2024. While at Arvinas, he led the company through numerous private and public financings, including its IPO in 2018, as well as multiple business development transactions with leading pharmaceutical companies including Merck, Genentech, Pfizer and Bayer. Previously, Mr. Cassidy was the Chief Financial officer at Axerion Therapeutics, Chief Financial Officer of CuraGen Corporation, and the Director and Controller of 454 Life Sciences Corporation.
Mr. Cassidy sits on the board of directors of Automera Therapeutics, Abbratech and ReNetx Bio and is a board member of the Friends of Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, a nonprofit organization that helps improve the health and well-being of pediatric patients and their families. Mr Cassidy is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Science in accounting and finance and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Connecticut.
About HB-200
HB-200 is HOOKIPA's lead oncology candidate engineered with the company's proprietary replicating arenaviral vector platform. It comprises two single-vector compounds with arenaviral backbones based on lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) and pichinde virus (PICV). Both express the same transgene encoding an E7E6 fusion protein derived from HPV16. HB-200 is an alternating 2-vector immunotherapy designed to further focus the immune response against the encoded antigen.
HB-200 in combination with pembrolizumab received Fast Track Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and PRIME designation from the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of first-line HPV16+ recurrent/metastatic oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. These designations are supported by preliminary clinical evidence from the Phase 1/2, open-label, clinical trial (NCT04180215) evaluating safety, T cell response, and efficacy based on objective response rate $(ORR.AU)$ and disease control rate (DCR) as defined by RECIST 1.1.
(1) Harrington et al. Pembrolizumab With or Without Chemotherapy in Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Updated Results of the Phase III KEYNOTE-048 Study. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2023;41(4);790-802.
About HB-500
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