Singapore Biotech Brings New Cancer Drug to First Patient

On a chilly November day in 2021, a patient in London became the first person to receive HMBD-001, a promising new cancer treatment that took years to develop. It was a milestone moment for Hummingbird Bioscience, the Singapore company behind the drug.

The team had tackled one of cancer research's toughest puzzles: a protein called HER3. Discovered over 30 years ago, HER3 helps cancer cells grow and resist treatment, but no one could figure out how to stop it effectively.

"HER3 biology isn't a single switch. Tumors have multiple ways to activate and adapt," explains Piers Ingram, cofounder and CEO of Hummingbird Bioscience. His team asked a better question: Could they engineer an antibody that actually suppresses HER3's function, not just binds to it?

The answer took shape in Singapore Science Park, where computers hummed and researchers turned complex biology into testable hypotheses. They used advanced models to rank which experiments would matter most for real treatments. The precision paid off.

Singapore proved to be the perfect home base for this breakthrough. The nation's SG100K project has already sequenced 100,000 local genomes, discovering 98 million genetic variants, more than half previously unknown to science. That data helps researchers identify the right molecular targets.

The entire research ecosystem sits within a few city blocks in Singapore. Labs, hospitals, and manufacturing facilities work side by side. What might take months or years elsewhere happens in weeks on this 280-square-mile island.

Hummingbird Bioscience raised over $150 million to develop therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases. The company now researches how antibody-drug conjugate technologies can deliver medicine directly to diseased tissue while protecting healthy cells.

When those first drops of HMBD-001 flowed through an IV line in London, nearly 7,000 miles from where it was created, the clinical trial began testing the drug on patients with various cancer types where HER3 drives tumor growth. The engineering mindset that Ingram describes turned a messy biological problem into a potential solution.

Why This Inspires

This story shows what happens when smart questions meet the right environment. Singapore created a turnkey system where startups can focus on solving hard problems instead of fighting red tape. More than 30 companies there have reached billion-dollar valuations, proving that removing friction unleashes innovation.

For patients fighting cancers that resist other treatments, HMBD-001 represents new hope built on three decades of persistence.

The result is a cancer treatment targeting a protein that stumped scientists for a generation, now flowing through patients' veins and fighting back.