HOOKIPA Pharma welcomes Michael Kelly to its Board as Independent Director

– USA, NY –  HOOKIPA Pharma Inc., a company developing a new class of immunotherapeutics targeting infectious diseases and cancers based on its proprietary arenavirus platform, today announced the appointment of Michael A. Kelly to the Company’s Board of Directors.

“It is a great pleasure to welcome Michael A. Kelly to HOOKIPA’s Board of Directors. His financial expertise, gained over many years in numerous roles in many highly regarded life science companies will add great value to the governance and the future development of our Company,” said Joern Aldag, HOOKIPA’s Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Kelly is a former senior executive of Amgen, Inc. currently acting as Founder & President of Sentry Hill Partners, LLC., who looks back on more than two decades of executive experience in senior leadership roles in the life sciences industry. Prior to retiring from operational management, he held various strategic finance and operations positions at Amgen, including the role of acting CFO of Amgen in 2010 and 2014, and positions at Biogen, Tanox and Monsanto Life Sciences. Throughout his career in pharmaceutical operations, Mr. Kelly has held a variety of strategic finance leadership roles at the Board and Committee level, which have successfully led to transformation, restructuring, and integration in environments of rapid innovation and change.

Mr. Kelly is currently a member of the Board of Directors and serves on the Finance Committee for Direct Relief, a humanitarian aid organization focused on health outcomes and disaster relief. He also previously served as a member of the Board of Trustees at Viewpoint School.

Mr. Kelly holds a BSc in business administration from Florida A&M University, concentrating in Finance & Industrial Relations.

Commenting on his appointment, Michael A. Kelly said: “HOOKIPA has built a strong investor base to fund their convincing and unique pipeline and technology platform. I look forward to working with the Board of Directors and HOOKIPA’s experienced Management Team to further advance the Company’s success.”

About HOOKIPA

HOOKIPA Pharma Inc. is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of immunotherapeutics, targeting infectious diseases and cancers based on its proprietary arenavirus platform that is designed to reprogram the body’s immune system.

HOOKIPA’s proprietary arenavirus-based technologies, VaxWave®, a replication-deficient viral vector, and TheraT®*, a replication-attenuated viral vector, are designed to induce robust antigen specific CD8+ T cells and pathogen-neutralizing antibodies. Both VaxWave® and TheraT® are designed to allow for repeat administration while maintaining an immune response. TheraT® has the potential to induce CD8+ T cell response levels previously not achieved by other published immuno-therapy approaches. HOOKIPA’s “off-the-shelf” viral vectors target dendritic cells in vivo to activate the immune system.

HOOKIPA has successfully completed a Phase 1 trial of a VaxWave®-based prophylactic vaccine to protect against cytomegalovirus infection and has started dosing patients in a Phase 2 trial in cytomegalovirus-negative patients awaiting kidney transplantation from cytomegalovirus-positive donors. To expand its infectious disease portfolio, HOOKIPA has entered into a collaboration and licensing agreement with Gilead Sciences, Inc. to jointly research and develop functional cures for HIV and Hepatitis B infections. HOOKIPA is building a proprietary immuno-oncology pipeline by targeting virally mediated cancer antigens, self-antigens and next-generation antigens.

For more, www.hookipapharma.com.