Turn up the heat on cold tumors
fail to respond to immunotherapy have run out of therapeutic options
We are HEPHAISTOS
An immunotherapy startup that is designing and developing sole-in-class engineered immune sensor modulators to tackle the biggest challenge in oncology: turning up the heat on immune-resistant cold tumors.
Unlocking the potential of innate immune sensor modulators
The company has recently achieved preclinical proof-of-concept of a first systemic augmented and detoxified TLR4 activator in refractory liquid and solid cancers, alone and in combination. The drug candidate HEPHA-440 has been granted orphan drug designation for the treatment of osteosarcoma and is expected to enter the clinic by 2027.
Hephaistos, which has received multiple awards and grants, is the result of the meeting of two class “A” scientists: Dr. Martine Caroff, a pioneer in danger sensing biology & engineering and Pr. Charles Dumontet, a leader in immuno-oncology and hematology. Based in Paris, Lyon, and Brussels, the company has secured €18.1 million in seed and non-dilutive funding.
Scientific Founders
Team
Board Members
Scientific Advisory Board
The biggest challenge in oncology
Immunotherapies have produced stellar clinical responses, but these successes are bittersweet: 70% of patients do not respond or relapse quickly after an initial response. We have long known that cancer cells have the sneaky ability to evade the immune system: hot tumors with significant active T-cell infiltration respond to immunotherapies while cold tumors, lost in an immune desert, respond poorly or not respond at all.
Detoxified and augmented TLR4 activators
Unlike other immunotherapies, TLR4 activators act simultaneously on the 3 causes of tumor immune escape: the sub-activation of immune cancer killers, their difficulty to reach the tumor site and their lack of functionality. However, until now their unfavorable therapeutic index has restricted their use to intra-tumoral injection and vaccine adjuvant.
Mechanism of Action
By engineering a new generation of detoxified and augmented TLR4 activators, Hephaistos widens the therapeutic window of this class of broad-spectrum immunotherapy opening the way for a systemic approach of cancer immune escape.
Publications
Pipeline
News
HEPHAISTOS Awarded Best Biotech Pitch at HTID 2025
October 8, 2025 We are delighted to announce…
“Golden Ticket” award for HEPHAISTOS from Amgen France and BioLabs Hôtel-Dieu
December 10th, 2024 HEPHAISTOS-Pharma has the honor to…
HEPHAISTOS laureate of the HACKATHON against childhood cancer
November 22th, 2024 HEPHAISTOS-Pharma was laureate of the…
HEPHAISTOS secures €10.3 M to reach the clinical stage
HEPHAISTOS-Pharma welcomes Elaia to complete its Seed Round,…
Media coverage
25 January 2024
02 November 2020
Clusters & Partners
Financial Supports
HEPHAISTOS-Pharma has received funding from ANR (#ANR-23-RHUS-0003) and received State support through France 2030 program
HEPHAISTOS-Pharma has received funding from the European Union – Next Generation EU through the program France Relance
HEPHAISTOS-Pharma has received funding from the European Union EIC Accelerator program
HEPHAISTOS-Pharma has received funding from the European Union FEDER regional fund
HEPHAISTOS-Pharma has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 868937
HEPHAISTOS-Pharma’s academic partner CRCL has received funding from the Region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the Grand Lyon Metropole and the CLARA Canceropole
HEPHAISTOS-Pharma received financial support from WILCO Healthcare startup cluster