Hummingbird and Mycenax Partner for Solid Tumor Treatment Manufacturing

Hummingbird Bioscience, a biotherapeutics company headquartered in Singapore, announced on Feb. 20, 2020 that it has signed an agreement with Mycenax Biotech, a contract development and manufacturing organization located in Taiwan, for the production of material for the Phase I clinical trial of HMBD-002, an anti-VISTA antibody for the treatment of solid tumors that are unresponsive to existing treatments. The partnership will begin in the second half of 2020.

According to a Hummingbird press release, VISTA cells are related to the emergence of tumors and are often resistant to many cancer immunotherapies. Instead of removing the VISTA cells from the body like many current anti-VISTA agents, HMBD-002 allows the cells to develop and become active tumor-killing cells, which gathered a positive response in pre-clinical studies.

“We are very pleased to be working with Mycenax, a pioneering provider of high-quality biologics, for the production of our anti-VISTA antibody, HMBD-002. This contract takes us one step closer to realizing the goal of more effective immunotherapies for a broader population of individuals with cancer,” said Dr. Jerome Boyd-Kirkup, chief scientific officer and co-founder, Hummingbird Bioscience, in the press release.

“We think HMBD-002 has great therapeutic potential and we are honored and excited to work with Hummingbird Bioscience on this project. We are committed to providing professional and customized service to facilitate the progress of the project. We are optimistic that, with our expertise and capability in CMC and production, HMBD-002 will be able to enter clinical trials and show therapeutic benefits soon,” added Dr. Pei-Jiun Chen, CEO and president of Mycenax, in the press release.

Source: Hummingbird