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Hummingbird Bioscience eyes breakthrough in cancer treatment with ADCs

Published: 01 Jul. 2025, 13:26

LEE JAE-LIM
[email protected]

Piers Ingram, co-founder and CEO of Hummingbird Bioscience, delivers opening remarks at the company's new site launch within Singapore Science Park in September 2022. [HUMMINGBIRD BIOSCIENCE]

Piers Ingram, founder and CEO of Singapore-based Hummingbird Bioscience and its U.S. spin-off Callio Therapeutics, is quietly building a two-pronged strategy to reshape cancer treatment.

While Hummingbird centers its efforts on tailor-made antibody discovery through its proprietary Rational Antibody Discovery (RAD) platform, Callio — launched earlier this year in Seattle — is pushing forward the next frontier of cancer therapy: multi-payload antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).

The spin-off is advancing ADC candidates built on technology licensed from Hummingbird, with $187 million raised in Series A funding in March, led by Frazier Life Sciences.

“ADCs have taken more than a decade to figure out, and it’s only in the last five or six years that we’ve seen truly transformational progress with single-payload versions,” Ingram said in an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily at the 2025 Bio International Convention. “But if you can take those lessons and apply them to multi-payload constructs — layering in what we know from combinatorial pharmacology — that could be game-changing.”

By separating the antibody discovery and ADC programs into two distinct companies, Ingram said the structure allows each to operate at full speed with focused resources, while benefiting investors on both sides.

Callio’s lead program is a HER2-targeting dual-payload ADC, a candidate designed to combine the power of combination therapy into a single targeted treatment.

Meanwhile, Hummingbird continues to develop antibody drugs discovered through RAD, a machine-learning-based platform the company has used since its founding in 2015, years before the generative AI boom. Its lead pipeline includes HMBD-001, an antibody that blocks HER3, a cancer-driving protein commonly found in lung and breast tumors, and HMBD-002, an antibody targeting VISTA, an immune checkpoint protein that helps tumors evade immune responses.

The HER3 antibody program is in the process of Phase 1 trials in regions including Australia, Britain and even Korea, confirmed by Ingram during the interview.

Piers Ingram, second from left, and Singapore's former Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, as well as other executives pose for the photo to commemorate the opening of Hummingbird Bioscience's expanded research facility at the Singapore Science Park in September 2022. [HUMMINGBIRD BIOSCIENCE]

“We opened the clinical sites in Korea at the end of last year,” he said. Korean institutions participating in the trials include Chungbuk National University Hospital in North Chungcheong, CHA Bundang Medical Center in Gyeonggi, Severance Hospital in western Seoul, Korea University Anam Hospital central Seoul and the Catholic University of Korea St. Vincent’s Hospital in Gyeonggi.

“It’s obviously very important to enroll patients quickly in this trial. The data that we’re seeing is quite encouraging, but we have to continue to build out the data in the next 12 to 18 months.”

Hummingbird’s connection to Korea goes beyond trial sites. SK Inc., the holding company of SK Group, led Hummingbird’s $25 million Series B round in 2021, securing a nonexecutive board seat. It also participated in the company’s subsequent Series C round alongside Nova Holdings and Frazier Healthcare Partners.

In Korea, it’s rare for a domestic company to gain board-level governance in a foreign biotech firm. That may signal broader strategic interest, especially as SK Group expands its bio portfolio through two key affiliates: SK bioscience, which focuses on vaccines and contract manufacturing, and SK Biopharmaceuticals, which develops treatments for central nervous system disorders.

Still, Ingram was careful to frame SK’s involvement as primarily financial.

“It’s important to view their involvement more as a financial investment rather than a strategic partnership,” he said. “Of course, we occasionally explore potential collaborations with the broader SK Group, just as we do with other pharma investors. These types of engagements between pharma and biotech are fairly common and can be mutually beneficial.”

Singapore's former Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, right, tours Hummingbird Bioscience’s laboratory with CEO Piers Ingram in September 2022. [HUMMINGBIRD BIOSCIENCE]

When asked about Hummingbird’s path to public listing, Ingram said the company remains cautious given the biotech sector’s tough macroeconomic conditions over the past two years.

“We’re fortunate not to be in a position where we urgently need to raise capital right now,” he said. “We have a strong pipeline and a lot of potential still to realize.”

On June 26, Hummingbird announced an out-licensing deal for its VISTA antibody to Australia-based Percheron Therapeutics, granting the company exclusive global rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize the drug. Hummingbird will receive up to $290 million in upfront and milestone payments, plus royalties on future sales.

“We’re also aware that many of our investors have supported us for a long time and may be approaching the end of their fund life cycles,” he added. “So that’s another factor we consider carefully. Ultimately, any decision on going public will be based on what’s truly in the company’s strategic interest.”

BY LEE JAE-LIM [[email protected]]