HOOKIPA Pharma Announces $21.25 Million Equity Investment from Gilead Sciences

• Gilead purchased 15 million newly issued shares of common stock at a price of $1.4167 per share
  
  
• Following the close of the transaction on December 20, 2023, Gilead holds 19.4% of HOOKIPA’s outstanding shares of common stock
  
  
• Equity investment is to advance the Gilead-partnered HIV therapeutic program through Phase 1; trial expected to commence in the first half of 2024
  

NEW YORK and VIENNA, Austria, Dec. 21, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HOOKIPA Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOK, ‘HOOKIPA’), a company developing a new class of immunotherapeutics based on its proprietary arenavirus platform, today announced that Gilead Sciences (‘Gilead’) has purchased 15 million shares of HOOKIPA’s common stock for approximately $21.25 million, at a price of $1.4167 per share.

In addition, HOOKIPA has the right, subject to certain terms and conditions, to sell an additional approximately $8.75 million of common stock to Gilead as pro-rata participation in potential future equity raises. The agreement with Gilead replaces the stock purchase agreement that Hookipa entered into with Gilead in 2022.

“We have a tremendous partnership with Gilead, who have been incredible believers in our arenavirus platform since our initial collaboration and license agreement began more than five years ago,” said Joern Aldag, Chief Executive Officer at HOOKIPA. “Together, we have made meaningful progress to find a potential functional cure for HIV. Most recently, we received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of our Investigational New Drug application for HB-500 and are excited to begin our Phase 1 trial in the first half of next year. We are excited to continue our relationship with Gilead, and we are collectively optimistic about the potential of our partnership to benefit patients.”

The transaction closed on December 20, 2023. Following the completion of the stock purchase, Gilead’s ownership in HOOKIPA increased to 18,759,465 shares, or approximately 19.4% of HOOKIPA’s outstanding shares of Common Stock.

HB-500 is an alternating, 2-vector arenaviral therapeutic vaccine that is being evaluated as part of a potential curative regimen for HIV. One vector is based on lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) as its arenaviral backbone; another vector is based on Pichinde virus (PICV). Both encode the same HIV antigens. The alternating 2-vector approach is designed to further focus the immune response against the target antigen.