BioNJ is pleased to shine the spotlight on one of our Innovation Members each month featuring their progress and work on behalf of Patients and their impact on the New Jersey life sciences ecosystem.  This month’s Emerging Company in the Spotlight is Hillstream BioPharma. 

So many of our Members are making a dramatic impact on our State’s innovation ecosystem. We celebrate you! Hillstream BioPharma is one such company.

Hillstream BioPharma (Hillstream) is building the company around its proprietary QUATRAMER nanoparticle drug delivery technology. The corporation, led by CEO Randy Milby, is advancing improved therapies for Patients with cancer using its QUATRAMER delivery platform combined with cancer-killing compounds. “This technology allows us to encapsulate the active drug,” said Mr. Milby. “We can also include more than one active ingredient through the use of our nanoparticle technology.”

Hillstream is building a portfolio of cancer drug candidates using the QUATRAMER delivery system. This unique technology enables intranuclear and intracellular delivery of small molecules, peptides, genes, other macromolecules and biologics to the tumor cell, while significantly minimizing exposure to normal tissues. The result is potentially improved efficacy while reducing side effects and dose-related toxicities.

Hillstream’s lead compound salinomycin (HSB-1216) is a new chemical entity for the treatment of cancer. HSB-1216 enables tumor-specific drug delivery, achieving high concentrations of drug within tumors even at low doses, which minimizes the risk of systemic toxicity. “Salinomycin on its own is too toxic,” says Milby. “By encapsulating salinomycin using out QUATRAMER platform, it can be safely applied in such settings as small-cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.”

Hillstream is also developing a nanoparticle formulation of tumor necrosis factor-alpha DNA, or HSB-114. Again, the QUATRAMER delivery nanoparticle encapsulates tumor necrosis factor-alpha. High-dose tumor necrosis factor-alpha can be administered intratumorally or systemically which concentrates in tumors. Hillstream is pursuing an initial indication for HSB-114 for surgically unresectable metastatic soft tissue sarcoma.

Finally, Hillstream recently renewed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The agreement enables NCATS’s research and use of the company’s QUATRAMER drug delivery technology independently while Hillstream continues to pursue its other programs. This technology will be used to develop formulations of HDAC6-PI3Kδ dual inhibitors for the treatment of rare cancers, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL).

“Hillstream owns all the intellectual property and composition of matter patents for all of our compounds,” said Milby. “Furthermore our QUATRAMER technology has the potential to be applied to many other drugs in many different therapeutic areas.” Hillstream is progressing towards an IND filing for HSB-1216 and plans to initiate a clinical trial in small cell lung cancer.

According to Mr. Milby, he could not think of a better location for Hillstream BioPharma’s headquarters than New Jersey. “Our membership in BioNJ has been invaluable for our ability to grow and rapidly achieve our goals,” said Milby. “Our New Jersey headquarters provides Hillstream with ready access to experts across all critical pharma business verticals. It also provides an ideal location in proximity to New York and the global financial markets.”

Hillstream BioPharma continues to grow and is focused on business development. The company is actively seeking partners for new product development and to help advance its existing development programs. For more information, potential partners should contact Hillstream BioPharma at busdev@hillstreambio.com.

Corporate Contact:
Randy Milby
President & CEO
Hillstream Biopharma Inc.
Tel: +1 302.743.2995
Email: rmilby@hillstreambio.com

 Investor Contact:
Jennifer K. Zimmons, Ph.D.
Investor Relations
Zimmons International Communications, Inc.
Tel: +1 917.214.3514
Email: jzimmons@zimmonsic.com