Singapore-based cancer biotech firm Hummingbird Bioscience to target inflammatory diseases with precision drugs
It will be adapting antibody-drug conjugates which it developed for cancer treatment to target these diseases.
It is now about 12 months to 18 months away from filing regulatory approvals in Asia, Europe and the US to start clinical trials for an undisclosed number of these drugs.
These consist of antibodies that have the missile-like ability to seek out specific targets, along with a payload, which is a drug intended to treat a disease.
Hummingbird recently received an award from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo), the United Nations agency dedicated to innovation and creativity.
At the 2025 Wipo Global Awards held at the organisation's headquarters in Geneva on July 11, it was among 10 small and medium-sized enterprises worldwide that were celebrated for commercialising their intellectual property (IP).
'Hummingbird Bioscience exemplifies how innovative companies can thrive with a well-crafted IP strategy. The company has built a robust IP plan with a strong patents portfolio and a successful licensing-based business model,' said Fu Zhikang, director of IP strategy solutions at Ipos International, a subsidiary of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.
The biotech firm is looking to expand its pipeline of products.
Its chief scientific officer and co-founder Jerome Boyd-Kirkup told The Straits Times: 'Our mission has been to build the next generation of potentially transformative therapies for patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases.
'A large part of that is to have a strong IP portfolio which can underpin that development and ensure that the innovations that are done here in Singapore can be translated globally.'
The company's focus for the future will be on immunology and inflammation, said Boyd-Kirkup.
These diseases are a group of chronic conditions characterised by a dysregulated immune system leading to inflammation and tissue damage. It is generally believed that up to 10 per cent of the world's population is affected by these conditions, though estimates vary.
The therapeutics for immunology and inflammatory diseases have seen keen interest from biopharma companies worldwide – the global market size for this area is projected to grow from US$103 billion in 2024 to US$257 billion by 2032.
In the context of immunology and inflammatory diseases, the target for Hummingbird's antibody-drug conjugates may be immune cells that have become overactive or destructive, and a drug is selected to block the harmful response.
Boyd-Kirkup said that current treatments for immunology and inflammatory diseases are usually small molecule drugs such as corticosteroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
But the drawbacks of these drugs include concerns around side effects from long-term usage, and a short half-life, which means a drug needs to be taken more often as it does not stay long in the body.
These two factors limit the efficacy and long-term treatment that is necessary for the treatment of many of such diseases.
'Antibody-drug conjugates offer a promising solution by enabling the targetted delivery of small molecule drugs, including immunosuppressives, directly to immune cells, thereby improving safety profiles and optimising exposure duration,' said Boyd-Kirkup.
The company, which has leveraged artificial intelligence (AI) in its discovery and development cycle for cancer drugs, will also be doing the same for immunology and inflammatory drugs.
Immunology and inflammatory diseases are complex and involve many different cell types. In many cases, the places where the damage is occurring are not linked to the cells or processes happening in the area, said Boyd-Kirkup.
AI is being used to understand the biological processes involved in such diseases, he added.
'We have used AI to accelerate identification of key target cells and antigens involved in immunology and inflammatory diseases. The immunology and inflammatory antibody-drug conjugates we are working on are targeting key immune cell types involved in disease,' said Boyd-Kirkup.
He added that based on the clinical indications and antibody-drug conjugates that the company is looking into, there is a significant unmet clinical need.
'Clinical trials and commercialisation for therapies generally take around a decade. We are also open to the possibility of accelerating the process to the clinic through partnerships and licensing, which may bring in revenue for the company,' said Boyd-Kirkup.
In 2026, the company is also set to release results from its Phase 1B clinical trials for one of its key cancer drugs in development, HMBD-001. It is an antibody that targets the HER3 protein driving tumour growth and resistance against cancer drugs, currently being studied in a number of countries, including Singapore. - The Straits Times/ANN
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