Hummingbird and Novogene partner on NRG1-fusion driven cancers in China

Singapore-based clinical-stage biotech Hummingbird Bioscience, which just last month closed a $125 million financing round, has announced a strategic partnership with Asian genomic sequencing and bioinformatics company Novogene.

The partnership will leverage China-based Novogene’s strong molecular diagnostics capabilities to expand patient identification through next generation sequencing (NGS) testing in China to support the development of Hummingbird Bioscience’s investigational drug candidate HMBD-001, an anti-HER3 antibody that will be evaluated for treatment of multiple tumor types, including NRG1-fusion driven cancers. HMBD-001 is expected to enter Phase i clinical trials later this year.

While rare, occurring in less than 0.5% of all solid tumors, NRG1-fusions are increasingly recognized as an actionable oncogenic driver that may potentially be addressed through effective HER3 inhibition. The partnership will focus on validation and expansion of clinical-grade testing for NRG1 fusions in key patient populations with selected solid tumors.