7 Hills Pharma Receives $3.5M to Continue Development

Of Integrin Activators to Augment Immunotherapies


Company raises $1.6M from existing investors and wins $1.9M NIH grant



Houston, TX, (June 8, 2020) - 7 Hills Pharma, a clinical stage immunotherapy company focused on the development of drugs for treatment and prevention of cancer and infectious diseases, has received $3.5 million to continue development of its first in-class integrin platform technology to improve immunotherapies.

“The $1.6 million in financing comes from existing private investors and demonstrates their confidence in our programs,” said 7 Hills Pharma President and CEO Upendra Marathi, Ph.D., MBA. “The funding will be used to help advance our lead integrin activator, 7HP439, into clinical development as an immune stimulating adjuvant for COVID-19 and influenza vaccines as well as PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors for cancer.”

7HP349 is part of 7 Hills Pharma’s platform of oral, small molecule integrin activators protected by a pioneering patent estate. The integrin activators promote cell adhesion, which is essential for immune system activation, and can be targeted to strengthen the antigen specific immune responses of all kinds of immunotherapies. Preclinical study data also reveal a positive safety profile for the immune stimulants.

The company also announced it has been awarded a $1.9 million Phase II STTR (R42) grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support clinical manufacturing and establish proof of concept of 7HP439 for improving umbilical cord blood (UCB) transplants.

The UCB program is aimed at making cord blood transplants a more viable alternative to bone marrow and peripheral blood transplants in treatment of blood cancers and genetic diseases. Unlike bone marrow and peripheral blood, cord blood does not require a close donor-patient match. The problem, however, is that it contains fewer stem cells than bone marrow and peripheral blood, which means it takes longer to reconstitute patients’ immune systems, leaving them vulnerable to infections. In preclinical studies, 7HP439 has demonstrated it can overcome this shortcoming by reducing the time of immune system reconstitutions.

About 7 Hills Pharma
7 Hills Pharma is focused on the development of novel and cost-efficient immunomodulatory agents that leverage well-known integrin biology to drive and enhance essential steps in the immune cycle.  The company’s lead programs are designed to improve the effectiveness of immuno-oncology therapies including checkpoint inhibitors, vaccines, and cord blood transplantation in the treatment of cancers and infectious diseases.  For more information, visit http://www.7hillspharma.com

Media Contact:
Robert Williams
Robert@7hillspharma.com