Hepione Therapeutics

Hepione Therapeutics is a private biotechnology company developing antibody- and vaccine-based immunotherapies to prevent opioid and other drug overdoses, with an initial focus on fentanyl. Its core technology is the proprietary VAST platform, a trypanosome-derived antigen display system designed to generate high-affinity antibodies against difficult targets such as small molecules, peptides, carbohydrates, and lipids. The company highlights anti-fentanyl neutralizing monoclonal antibodies as its lead assets and states that the platform may also be applicable to oncology targets such as tumor-specific carbohydrates and T cell receptors. Hepione appears to be an early-stage, preclinical company supported by non-dilutive funding including an NIH SBIR award. The company is based in New York and positions itself as a platform biotech focused on challenging immunotherapy targets.