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SINGAPORE and SYDNEY, July 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hummingbird Bioscience, a data-driven precision biotherapeutics company discovering and developing transformative biologic medicines for hard-to-treat diseases, today announced the initiation of two Phase IB clinical trials in Australia. The Hummingbird Bioscience-sponsored precision oncology trials will evaluate the activity of HMBD-001, a differentiated HER3-targeting antibody that uniquely inhibits HER3 oncogenic signaling, in patients with squamous non-small cell lung carcinoma (sqNSCLC), and patients with genetic aberrations in HER3 signaling.
Hummingbird Bioscience has identified genetic signatures predictive of response to HMBD-001. To recruit patients with these profiles, the company has partnered with Omico, an Australian government-backed national network of leading researchers, clinicians and industry partners facilitating the delivery of genomic cancer medicine to Australian patients. Under this collaboration, Omico's PrOSPeCT initiative, which launches today, will provide patient referrals to the HMBD-001 trials. These precision trials bring a new investigational targeted therapy with the potential for broad clinical benefit to oncology patients in Australia.
The lead clinical trial site is GenesisCare, at which Professor Nick Pavlakis, MBBS, MMed (Clin. Epidemiology), Ph.D., FRACP, Board Chair of The Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia (TOGA), is Principal Investigator of both HMBD-001 Phase IB trials.
"We are excited to announce the initiation of our HMBD-001 Phase IB trials in Australia. We have invested significant resources in understanding how to identify cancers that depend on HER3 signaling for growth. Omico's PrOSPeCT platform has created an extensive network enabling accelerated access to genomic screening, which allows us to quickly identify and recruit patients that we believe will benefit from HMBD-001. This is an important step in realizing the promise and value of precision oncology," said Jerome Boyd-Kirkup, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Hummingbird Bioscience.
"We are thrilled to partner with Hummingbird Bioscience to accelerate precision oncology, and together contribute to better treatment options for cancer patients via clinical trials. It is this kind of partnership that will create a more sustainable and research-led model of health care," said Professor David Thomas, Ph.D., FRACP, Director of the Centre of Molecular Oncology, UNSW and Chief Executive Officer of Omico.
"Advanced lung cancer is no longer considered a single disease. Identifying biologic targets to enable targeted therapy provides hope for greater benefit than conventional therapy. Omico has provided the platform in which to identify these targets and these two trials are evaluating new targeted therapies in lung cancer subtypes with unmet need. It is thus exciting to be a part of these studies to be able to offer these treatments to our patients," said Professor Pavlakis.
About Hummingbird Bioscience
Hummingbird Bioscience is a data-driven precision biotherapeutics company discovering and developing transformative biologic medicines for hard-to-treat diseases. The Hummingbird Bioscience model combines computational and systems biology with wet lab drug discovery in a multi-disciplinary, collaborative environment spanning initial discovery through clinical development. We harness this integrated approach across target identification and patient selection, enabling our team to increase the efficiency of translating novel scientific insights while reducing the inherent risk in drug discovery and development. We are currently developing two clinical-stage assets: HMBD-001, a humanized anti-HER3 monoclonal antibody targeting a novel epitope on HER3, and HMBD-002, a humanized anti-VISTA IgG4 monoclonal antibody. Both programs are currently in Phase 1 studies. At Hummingbird Bioscience, our commitment to rigorous science, teamwork and intellectual integrity underpins our passion to accelerate the journey of new drugs from concept to clinic.
For more information, please visit www.hummingbirdbioscience.com, and follow Hummingbird Bioscience on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.
About HMBD-001
HMBD-001 is a clinical-stage IgG1 antibody designed to target HER3. Discovered using Hummingbird Bioscience's proprietary Rational Antibody Discovery (RAD) platform, HMBD-001 is now in development for the treatment of multiple solid tumors. We believe HMBD-001 is the only anti-HER3 antibody in development that has the potential to fully block both ligand-dependent and -independent HER3 activation and oncogenic signaling, by targeting a key epitope located at the interface where HER3 forms heterodimers with HER2 or EGFR. In preclinical models evaluating HMBD-001, the company has observed superior affinity and more potent tumor growth inhibition compared to existing anti-HER3 antibodies. Near-term development plans for HMBD-001 focus on a few priority, high-value indications with strong scientific rationale and supporting preclinical data, which includes HER3-driven cancers.
