Hornet Therapeutics, a London, UK-based biotech company focused on developing treatments to address EBV-driven pathologies, emerged from stealth with seed financing from 4BIO Capital.
The amount of the deal was not disclosed.
The company emerged from stealth with data published in Science demonstrating the first potential drug intervention for Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) driven disease. The study specifically identified IDO-1-driven NAD biosynthesis as a metabolic pathway that EBV exploits to meet the bioenergetic demands of nascent infected B cells. Targeting this pathway with an IDO-1 inhibitor hinders B cell transformation and EBV-driven pathogenesis in vitro and in animal models in vivo. This novel early intervention-approach with IDO-1 inhibition provides a therapeutic strategy to prevent EBV-associated diseases, including lymphomas.
The use of Hornet’s proprietary, clinically-validated IDO-1 inhibitor, HTX-201, has already demonstrated significant impact on latency, tumorigenesis, tumour burden, and survival in an experimental mouse model of EBV-driven PTLD.
The company aims to first develop HTX-201 for the prevention of EBV driven PTLD, where in high-risk solid organ transplant recipients this dangerous complication develops in up to 30% of patients, and the fear of emergence of EBV-driven pathology is ever-present across all transplant populations. By intervening early with HTX-201, Hornet is looking to simplify the management of transplant recipients in the first year post-transplant, when the risk for PTLD and graft loss is highest.
Based on the data now published in Science and with access to the clinically tested drug HTX-201, Hornet plans to progress into phase 1/2 proof-of-concept clinical trials in solid transplant populations within the next 12-18 months. In the future, the company intends to also target other conditions where EBV is implicated, such as MS, Infectious Mononucleosis and long-COVID.
Hornet emerges out of stealth with a strategic collaboration and licensing agreement with Kyowa Kirin, enabling Hornet Therapeutics to develop and commercialise HTX-201 (formerly known as KHK2455) in EBV-related diseases.
The company has an experienced team of experts in antiviral discovery and commercialisation, led by Dr Fraser Gray (formerly Vice President, Infectious Diseases, Worldwide Business Development at GlaxoSmithKline) and Professor Christoph Hess (Professor of Medicine at the University of Basel and Director of Experimental Medicine at the University of Cambridge).
FinSMEs
28/05/2024