Hummingbird Bioscience, Merck Partners to Evaluate HMBD-001 In Combo With Cetuximab In Squamous NSCLC

Hummingbird Bioscience, a data-driven precision biotherapeutics company discovering and developing transformative biologic medicines for difficult-to-treat diseases, announced a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with Merck to evaluate HMBD-001 in squamous non-small cell lung carcinoma (sqNSCLC) in combination with cetuximab. Hummingbird Bioscience will conduct a phase 1b clinical trial in patients with sqNSCLC to assess the safety, tolerability, and anti-tumor activity of its potentially best-in-class HER3-targeting antibody, HMBD-001, in combination with standard-of-care chemotherapy with or without Merck's cetuximab, anti-EGFR mAb.

Merck will provide cetuximab for the Hummingbird Bioscience-sponsored study, with both parties retaining all commercial rights to their respective compounds. “We are excited to collaborate with Merck to study a promising, new treatment regimen for sqNSCLC patients with significant unmet need. This is the first squamous disease setting of several for which HER3 plays a critical role in etiology and where HER targeted therapies could potentially deliver clinical benefit,” said Jerome Boyd-Kirkup, Ph.D., chief scientific officer, Hummingbird Bioscience. “In addition to standard of care chemotherapy, the inhibition of HER3 or the concurrent inhibition of HER3 and EGFR has significant potential to improve outcomes in sqNSCLC patients refractory to front-line immunotherapies.”

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 tumours. 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. Hummingbird Bioscience recently presented strong scientific rationale and preclinical data for HMBD-001 used as monotherapy and in combination with cetuximab in various squamous cell carcinomas at the American Association for Cancer Research 2023 Meeting in April. Hummingbird Bioscience is a data-driven precision biotherapeutics company discovering and developing transformative biologic medicines for hard-to-treat diseases.