SINGAPORE -- Cancer antibody developer Hummingbird Bioscience has received approval from Singapore health authorities to start a clinical trial for COVID-19 antibody therapy.
Early trials are ongoing while a Phase 3 trial is scheduled for the end of the year. The latest trial will study the safety and efficacy of the experimental treatment HMBD-115, the company said.
Preclinical studies have shown that HMBD-115 significantly reduced viral loads, attenuated inflammatory responses linked to severe disease and lung damage, and increased survivability, Hummingbird said.
HMBD-115 has also been shown to bind with high potency to all common strains of the coronavirus, including the D614G variant that has become the dominant strain globally.
Hummingbird Bioscience, founded in 2015 in Singapore, uses systems biology to develop an antibody discovery platform that is able to accurately identify key targets within the diseased cells, engineer molecules to hit those targets, and effectively prevent cell proteins from replicating.
It recently raised $25 million in a Series B round led by South Korean conglomerate SK Holdings.
Other shareholders who participated in the round included private equity and venture capital company Heritas Capital and SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore. Previous backers include Mirae Asset Venture Investment and GNTech Venture Capital.
That round brought the total capital that Hummingbird has raised to $65 million.
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