We are delighted to announce that HEPHAISTOS-Pharma has been honored with the Best Pitch nomination in the Biotech category at the 2025 HealthTech Innovation Days (HTID), organized by HealthTech For Care.

HTID is one of Europe’s premier health-innovation gatherings, bringing together life sciences companies, investors, patient associations, policy makers, and healthcare stakeholders to accelerate the translation of medical innovations into patient care.

We’re honored to be part of such a dynamic and innovative European healthtech community advancing solutions that can truly transform patient care.

This accolade affirms HEPHAISTOS-Pharma’s commitment to advancing biotech innovation with meaningful patient impact. We are energized by the conversations, feedback, and connections initiated during HTID 2025, and look forward to leveraging this momentum in the months ahead.

A huge thank you to HealthTech For Care, the jury, and the sponsors for this recognition, and congratulations to all the winners of this inspiring edition.

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HEPHAISTOS-Pharma has the honor to be a winner of a Golden Ticket from Amgen France x BioLabs Hôtel-Dieu in Paris.

We have won one year of free residency at BioLabs Hôtel-Dieu and personalized mentorship from Amgen experts to accelerate the development of our innovative project and create synergies.

We would like to thank the jury members for their time, expertise and feedback. Their contributions are very useful for us to understand the pharmaceutical needs and to define the clinical strategy:

• Nathalie Varoqueaux MD PhD, Executive Medical Director, Amgen
• Marie MORICE-MORAND, Associate Director of Innovation & Digital, Amgen
• Mads Nørregaard-Madsen, Scientific Director, Amgen R&D Copenhagen
• Martha S. Head, Executive Director, Computational & Data Sciences, Amgen
• Matthias Klinger, Director Research, Amgen Research Gmbh, Germany
• Margalit Haber, Ph.D., Business Development Manager, R&D Transformation, Strategy & Opera-tions, Precision Medicine, Amgen
• Gilles Gnacadja, PhD, Executive Director Data Sciences & Engineering, Technology Innovation Lab, Amgen
• Matthew Foster, DBA, Executive Director Technology Strategy & Innovation, Technology Innovation Lab, Amgen
• Saad Shah, Director Technology Strategy & Innovation, Digital & AI solutions, Technology Innovation Lab, Amgen
• Dihya Benhamouche, Innovation Project Manager, Amgen

Special thanks to the BioLabs France Team for welcoming us and organizing the event Christophe Tallec and Johanna Michielin.

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HEPHAISTOS-Pharma was laureate of the Hack4Hope, the hackathon against pediatric cancer following a  great day of speed dating with pharmas, patients’ associations and experts in childhood cancer

The jury was composed of experts in Oncology and Childhood cancer from academic and pharmaceutical industry.
Valeria Fantin , GILLES VASSAL Alexandre Malouvier Patricia BLANC Wendy Jacquemet-Ross Isabelle Villadary Laurent Debussche Alice de Queylard Benjamin Garel

Thanks to all the experts who advised us during the day ! Thanks to Future4Care for welcoming us. We are happy to participate to the PSCC’s Pediatric Cancer Working Group in order to impact the survival of children and adolescents with cancer. But also reducing toxicity of treatments but also lowering the burden for them and their families!

Thanks to Sasha Lièvre who organized the pitch session and is part of the Pediatric cancer team at Sanofi with Iris Valtingojer

Special thanks to Imagine for Margo – Children without Cancer LifeArc INNOVATIVE THERAPIES FOR CHILDREN WITH CANCER Gustave Roussy Institut Curie , Servier Sanofi Future4Care Foundation S for their help in making us progress.

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• €4.5M seed round led by Elaia with xista sciences ventures, Fondation Fournier-Majoie, Noshaq, Angels Santé and Femmes Business Angels. 

• €5.8M non-dilutive funding from the EIC accelerator, Bpifrance iNov, and France 2030 clinical grant.  

• ONCO-Boost is a first-in-class immunostimulant targeting innate immune response to treat cancers non-responding to current regimens, including immunotherapies.

France, May 16th 2024. HEPHAISTOS-Pharma, a biotechnology company developing next generation immunotherapies against cancer targeting innate immunity to increase the cure rate of patients, has completed its €4.5 million seed round to finance industrialization and advance its lead candidate ONCO-Boost towards the clinic. Elaia leads a consortium previously initiated by xista science ventures, the Fondation Fournier-Majoie and Noshaq.

Florian DENIS, Investment Director at Elaia, stated: “Elaia is very proud to join and strengthen the syndication. HEPHAISTOS’ core technology based on immunostimulants has the potential to turn cold tumors into hot tumors in hard-to-treat cancers. Frédéric CAROFF and his team have generated impressive preclinical data that will be scaled up towards additional value-creating milestones.”

“ELAIA has a proven track record in supporting biotech companies through to the clinic and success, and we are delighted to have them on board ” said Frederic CAROFF, CEO and co-founder of HEPHAISTOS-Pharma. “With xista science ventures, Fondation Fournier-Majoie and Noshaq, our consortium of seed investors brings not only the necessary funds, but also complementary expertise and a network that will structure the company. They will play a crucial role in the success of HEPHAISTOS. ”

HEPHAISTOS’ innovative approach to innate modulation has received significant validation and support from prestigious programs, with a total of €5.8 million awarded to accelerate the development of ONCO-Boost for the treatment of hard-to-treat solid tumors, where there is a high unmet medical need, BPIFRANCE iNov national competition, EIC Accelerator European competition and RHU clinical grant from France 2030, that will include a clinical phase 1/2 in collaboration with prestigious clinical centers.

This seed round will mainly finance the industrialization of drug production and regulatory toxicity studies to file for the CTA in Europe. HEPHAISTOS already has a lot of preclinical data in many cancer indications, but they plan to generate new additional data in monotherapy against unmet medical needs and in combination with promising drugs from other pharmaceutical companies. Finally, it will also help to recruit new talents and complete the structuring of the board.

About HEPHAISTOS-Pharma

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma is a preclinical biotech company developing the next generation of immunostimulants against cancer, revolutionizing immune stimulation targeting innate immunity with a unique technology for intravenous administration, opening the way to metastatic and hard-to-treat indications. HEPHAISTOS-Pharma is the laureate of prestigious grants such as Bpifrance i-Nov and the EIC accelerator in Europe. The company is also involved in the SyStInn consortium headed by academic partners that received an additional 9.8M€ grant from the French National Research Agency RHU program, which will part-fund clinical trials evaluating ONCO-Boost. HEPHAISTOS-Pharma is one of the few innovative companies to be selected for its disruptive potential and supported by the Paris Saclay Cancer Cluster.

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma is headquartered in France, with a subsidiary in Liège, Belgium. Learn more www.hephaistos-pharma.com

This project is funded by ANR under ref ANR-23-RHUS-0003 and received State support through France 2030 program

This project is funded by the European Union – Next Generation EU through the France Relance Program

This project is funded by the European Innovation Council as part of the EIC accelerator program financing the most innovative SMEs.

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma is one of the innovative projects selected and supported by the Paris Saclay Cancer Cluster, whose mission is to accelerate the development of innovation in oncology.

About ONCO-Boost

ONCO-Boost is the first product from HEPHAISTOS-Pharma’s platform. It stimulates the patients’ own immune system, strengthening both innate and adaptive immune systems, to increase their responses against cold tumors. ONCO-Boost can work both as a single agent and in combination with established immunotherapies that do not work against cold tumors, boosting their efficacy to breakthrough levels. Thanks to its intravenous administration, ONCO-Boost is the first immunostimulant to demonstrate simultaneous efficacy against both primary tumors and metastases.

About ELAIA

Elaia Partners is a European top-tier Venture Capital firm with a strong technology DNA. We invest in technology disruptors with global ambition from early stage to growth development. For the past 20 years, our commitment has been to deliver high performance with values.

We are proud to have been an active partner in over 100 startups including success stories such as Criteo (Nasdaq), Orchestra Networks (acquired by Tibco), Volterra (acquired by F5), Mirakl (valued $3.5B in Series E), Shift Technology (valued $1B+ in Series D), Mablink Bioscience (acquired by Eli Lilly), Aqemia and Alice&Bob.

Learn more www.Elaia.com • @Elaia_Partners

About xista sciences ventures

xista science ventures is an Austria-based venture fund investing in early-stage life science and deeptech startups across Europe. With a deep understanding of both scientific and investor perspectives, xista is an active partner to its portfolio companies, providing support for founders in realizing deep-tech ideas and scaling enterprises. The fund’s diverse portfolio spans the full breadth of science, in fields such as biotechnology, medtech, materials science and software. xista is embedded in the innovation system around the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA).

Learn more www.xista.vc.

xista science ventures is supported by InnovFin Equity, with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (“EFSI”) set up under the Investment Plan for Europe. The purpose of EFSI is to help support financing and implementing productive investments in the European Union and to ensure increased access to financing.

About the Fondation Fournier-Majoie

Fondation Fournier-Majoie is a Belgium venture philanthropy organization dedicated to innovation against cancer. Foundation’s mission is to identify, fund and support the most promising early-stage oncology European companies and their Founders as of pre-seed/seed development stage.

Learn more www.fournier-majoie.org

About Noshaq

Noshaq is an investment fund and project developer with a portfolio of more than 450 companies in different sectors. Noshaq is the reference financial partner for the creation and development of SMEs in the region of Liège, Belgium. Noshaq places a significant emphasis on the life science sector, aiming to actively support promising companies in this field.

Learn more www.noshaq.be

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He will be speaking during a roundtable organized by Paris Region in the Exhibit Hall Stage, on Tuesday 19th at 11:30am to give a feedback on developing a biotech company in the Paris region ecosystem.

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We are pleased to announce that HEPHAISTOS-Pharma has been awarded a Sanofi’s Golden Ticket 2023, winning a year’s free lab space at BioLabs @Hôtel-Dieu (France) to explore the application of their technology in developing new effective adjuvantation for mRNA vaccines. As a sponsor of BioLabs @Hôtel-Dieu, SANOFI is very committed to support game changing start-up emerging from the biotech ecosystem and to further accelerate patient access to these disruptive innovations.

Paris, December 12th 2023

Lien : https://www.sanofi.com/fr/partenariat/golden-ticket-competition

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October 30th 2023. Winners of the EIC accelerator grant have been announced. 47 winning innovative projects have been awarded all over Europe among them 12 are french companies. The EIC accelerator aims at supporting innovative SME with technologies that will have high impact over Europe.

Winner of the #health theme, our project consists in the development of a new immunotherapy platform against incurable cancer like sarcomas and able to treat metastatic patients. This platform can be used alone or in combination with therapeutic antibodies. 

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma is a biotechnology company developing the next generation of cancer treatments based on stimulating patients’ immune systems. ONCO-Boost, the flagship product of HEPHAISTOS-Pharma’s platform, can treat cancers with no treatment option and increase the efficacy of current immunotherapies which are not working against cold tumors. Thanks to its intravenous injection, ONCO-Boost is the first immunostimulant to have demonstrated efficacy against both primary tumors and metastases.

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma has developed its technology up to the preclinical regulatory phases by validating the feasibility of its industrialisation as well as its improved safety and efficacy. ONCO-Boost has obtained unprecedented preclinical results in various tumour models (osteosarcoma, colorectal, lymphoma, breast cancer). The EIC accelerator grant aims to support HEPHAISTOS up to clinical phases. Our objective is to create a European champion backed by a network of scientific and industrial excellence in the field, and create many jobs in Europe against American and Asian competitors.

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma is in the process of preparing Seed round to finance its development and is currently seeking investors to complete the ongoing syndication and close the round. 

More information about the other laureates 

https://eic.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-10/EIC%20Accelerator-June%2021%202023%20Cut%20Off.pdf

Nous sommes très fiers d’annoncer que nous sommes lauréats de la bourse #EIC_Accelerator du Conseil européen de l’innovation.      

30 octobre 2023. Les lauréats du concours EIC accelerator ont été annoncés. 47 projets innovants ont été récompensés dans toute l’Europe, dont 12 entreprises françaises. L’accélérateur EIC a pour objectif de soutenir les PME innovantes dont les technologies auront un fort impact en Europe.

Lauréat de la thématique #santé, notre projet consiste à développer une nouvelle plateforme d’immunothérapie contre les cancers incurables comme les sarcomes et capable de traiter les patients métastatiques. Cette plateforme peut être utilisée seule ou en combinaison avec des anticorps thérapeutiques.

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma est une société de biotechnologie qui développe la prochaine génération de traitements contre le cancer basés sur une stimulation du système immunitaire des patients. ONCO-Boost, le produit phare de la plateforme d’HEPHAISTOS-Pharma, permet de traiter les cancers sans option thérapeutique et d’augmenter l’efficacité des immunothérapies actuelles qui ne sont pas efficaces contre les tumeurs solides. Grâce à son injection en intraveineuse, ONCO-Boost est le premier immunostimulant à avoir démontré une efficacité contre les tumeurs difficiles d’accès mais aussi contre les métastases ouvrant la voie à un traitement des patients sans solution thérapeutique.

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma a développé sa plateforme d’immunothérapie jusqu’aux phases réglementaires précliniques en validant la faisabilité de son industrialisation ainsi que la meilleure efficacité et innocuité par rapport aux concurrents. ONCO-Boost a obtenu des résultats sans précédent en préclinique sur des modèles variés de tumeurs (Ostéosarcome, colorectal, lymphome, cancer du sein). La subvention de l’accélérateur EIC vise à soutenir HEPHAISTOS jusqu’aux phases cliniques. Notre objectif est de créer un champion européen soutenu par un réseau d’excellence scientifique et industrielle dans le domaine, et de créer de nombreux emplois en Europe face aux concurrents américains et asiatiques.

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma est en train de préparer un tour de table pour financer son développement et recherche actuellement des investisseurs pour compléter la syndication en cours et clôturer le tour de table.

Plus d’information sur les lauréats

https://eic.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-10/EIC%20Accelerator-June%2021%202023%20Cut%20Off.pdf

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For this 9th edition, 53 winning innovative projects will be supported by the State via #France2030 for a total amount of €56.3M. The i-Nov innovation competition aims to select projects with particularly strong potential for the French economy, which can claim to be global in scope!

Winner of the #health theme, our project consists in the development of a new immunotherapy platform against incurable cancer like sarcomas or metastatic patients. This platform can be used alone or in combination with therapeutic antibodies. 

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma is a biotechnology company developing the next generation of cancer treatments based on stimulating patients’ immune systems. ONCO-Boost, the flagship product of HEPHAISTOS-Pharma’s platform, can treat cancers with no treatment option and increase the efficacy of current immunotherapies which are not working against cold tumors. Thanks to its intravenous injection, ONCO-Boost is the first immunostimulant to have demonstrated efficacy against both primary tumors and metastases.

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma has developed its technology up to the preclinical regulatory phases by validating the feasibility of its industrialisation as well as its improved safety and efficacy. ONCO-Boost has obtained unprecedented preclinical results in various tumour models (osteosarcoma, colorectal, lymphoma, breast cancer). The i-Nov project aims to support HEPHAISTOS in the next phases of industrialisation and regulatory validation. It will enable this innovative technology, which is capable of improving patient survival, to be taken into clinical trials. It will also demonstrate the relevance of a unique and clean industrial process, position France at the forefront of immunostimulants by creating a new European champion backed by a network of scientific and industrial excellence in the field, and create many jobs in Europe.

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma is in the process of preparing Seed/Series A round to finance its development up to clinical phase I and is currently seeking investors to complete the ongoing syndication and close the round. 

More information about the other laureates 

https://www.gouvernement.fr/sites/default/files/contenu/piece-jointe/2023/01/recueil_des_laureats_i-nov_vague_9_vf.pdf

Nous sommes très fiers d’annoncer que nous sommes lauréats du volet iNov des Concours d’innovation de l’Etat            

A l’occasion de cette 9^ème édition, ce sont 53 projets innovants lauréats qui seront soutenus par l’Etat via #France2030 pour un montant total d’aides de 56,3 M€. Le concours d’innovation i-Nov a pour vocation de sélectionner des projets au potentiel particulièrement fort pour l’économie française, pouvant prétendre à une envergure mondiale ! 

Lauréat de la thématique #sante, notre projet consiste au développement d’une nouvelle plateforme d’immunothérapie contre les cancers incurables comme les sarcomes ou les patients métastatiques, pouvant être utilisée seule ou en combinaison avec les anticorps thérapeutiques. 

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma est une société de biotechnologie qui développe la prochaine génération de traitements contre le cancer basés sur une stimulation du système immunitaire des patients. ONCO-Boost, le produit phare de la plateforme d’HEPHAISTOS-Pharma, permet de traiter les cancers sans option thérapeutique et d’augmenter l’efficacité des immunothérapies actuelles qui ne sont pas efficaces contre les tumeurs solides. Grâce à son injection en intraveineuse, ONCO-Boost est le premier immunostimulant à avoir démontré une efficacité contre les tumeurs difficiles d’accès mais aussi contre les métastases ouvrant la voie à un traitement des patients sans solution thérapeutique.

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma a développé sa plateforme d’immunothérapie jusqu’aux phases réglementaires précliniques en validant la faisabilité de son industrialisation ainsi que la meilleure efficacité et innocuité par rapport aux concurrents. ONCO-Boost a obtenu des résultats sans précédent en préclinique sur des modèles variés de tumeurs (Ostéosarcome, colorectal, lymphome, cancer du sein). Le projet i-Nov a pour objectif d’accompagner HEPHAISTOS dans les prochaines phases d’industrialisation et de validation réglementaire. Il permettra d’amener en études cliniques cette technologie innovante capable d’améliorer la survie des patients. Il permettra également de démontrer la pertinence d’un procédé industriel unique et propre, de positionner la France à la pointe des immunostimulants en créant un nouveau champion national adossé à un réseau d’excellence scientifique et industriel dans le domaine, et créant de nombreux emplois en France.

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma est en préparation d’une levée de fonds privés en Seed / Série A pour financer son développement jusqu’en phase I clinique et cherche actuellement des investisseurs pour compléter la syndication en cours et boucler le tour. 

Découvrez le détail de tous les projets lauréats ici  https://www.gouvernement.fr/sites/default/files/contenu/piece-jointe/2023/01/recueil_des_laureats_i-nov_vague_9_vf.pdf

Découvrez la technologie de HEPHAISTOS-Pharma ici 

https://hephaistos-pharma.fr/

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The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has granted Orphan Drug Designation to ONCO-Boost (HEPHAISTOS-Pharma) as treatment for osteosarcoma.

Paris, France, September 1st, 2022, 7:00 pm CET.

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma a French Biotech company developing a new class of immunotherapies to address hard-to-treat and metastatic cancers, today announced that the European Commission granted Orphan Drug designation (ODD) to ONCO-Boost for the treatment of osteosarcoma.

“This designation is an important milestone in the development of ONCO-Boost and demonstrate its potential clinical benefits for sarcoma patients who have an urgent need for effective, tolerable, and convenient treatment options” said Frédéric Caroff, CEO and co-founder of HEPHAISTOS-Pharma. “This key milestone was reached thanks to the collaboration of HEPHAISTOS-Pharma with the academic teams from Pr. Charles Dumontet at the Centre de Recherche contre le Cancer de Lyon (CRCL), and Pr. Jean-Yves Blay at the Centre Léon Bérard (CLB). These collaborations have demonstrated the potential clinical benefit of ONCO-Boost against sarcomas such as osteosarcoma and chondrosarcoma, but also against Lymphoma, colorectal and breast cancers. The company is now heading toward regulatory validation and expects a first clinical study by 2023.”

In a recent interview on B-SMART TV, Dr. Aurélie Dutour from the CLB estimates that “ONCO-Boost is a great opportunity for patients as there was no therapeutic progress against osteosarcoma for 40 years and even the latest antibodies used in Immunotherapy failed and did not show any efficacy. The results that we obtained with ONCO-Boost were impressive and really encouraging”.

In the European Union (EU), Orphan drug designation is granted by the European Commission, based on a positive opinion issued by the EMA Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products, to investigational therapies addressing rare medical diseases or conditions that affect fewer than five in 10,000 persons in the EU, and having sufficient non-clinical or clinical data demonstrating its potential clinical benefit in the indication. Orphan drug status provides benefits to drug developers, including a 10-year period of marketing exclusivity in the EU after product approval, protocol assistance from the EMA at reduced fees during the product development phase and access to centralized marketing authorization.

About Osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma (OSa) is the most common primary malignancy of bone in children and young adults, but it’s a rare disease with 35.000 cases diagnosed each year in the world. Despite multimodal treatments including mainly surgery and chemotherapies, the 5-year survival rate of OSa patients has not been improved in the last four decades with a rate around 60 % for patients with no clinically detectable metastasis and 30 % for patients with metastatic foci detectable at the time of diagnosis. There is therefore an urgent need to rapidly develop new treatment options for this very aggressive cancer causing the premature death of children.

About ONCO-Boost

ONCO-Boost is the first-in-class natural immunostimulant targeting the Toll Like Receptor 4 (TLR4) compatible with systemic administration enabling to address hard-to-treat and disseminated tumors but also metastatic cancers. ONCO-Boost development has reached preclinical regulatory phases by validating its industrialization, its safety but also its efficacy in various tumor models both as monotherapy and in combination with different therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). As monotherapy, ONCO-Boost notably showed impressive anti-tumor efficacy on a relevant orthotopic Osteosarcoma model leading to complete regression of primary tumor and pulmonary metastasis in 78% and 40% of the animals respectively. Unprecedented results were also obtained in combination with a mAb like Rituximab on a Human B lymphoma model (Raise of complete response rates from 17% to 67-100%), and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) on a mouse model of colorectal cancer (Raise of efficacity from 0% to 80%). ONCO-Boost was also found to generate anti-tumor memory immune responses for long-term protections against relapses but also to efficiently address at the same time primary tumors and related metastasis which is unique in this competitive field. The antitumor activity of ONCO-Boost was associated with its capacity to modulate the tumor microenvironment (TME) from a “cold” (immunologically suppressed) to a “hot” (immunologically active) environment.

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma is currently rising private funds to prepare industrialisation of the drug manufacturing and regulatory validation to go to clinical phases. Private investors or Business Angels can contact Frederic CAROFF, the CEO if they wish to participate to our next fundraising.

For more information , visit hephaistos-pharma.fr

Press & Investors Contacts  :

HEPHAISTOS-Pharma

Frederic CAROFF, MSc. MBA
CEO and co-founder
T. : +33 (0)6.67.89.30.47

Simon PICO, PhD. MBA
Business Developer
T. : +33 (0)6.38.87.79.80

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