Biotech-focused investment firm Frazier Life Sciences has launched Callio Therapeutics, a cancer treatment startup with headquarters in Seattle and Singapore. Frazier led a $187 million Series A round to get the company started.
Callio has an exclusive license to work on cancer treatments that use multi-payload antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) developed by Hummingbird Bioscience. Chemotherapy using antibodies to carry multiple payloads to destroy cancer cells is a relatively new and rapidly growing area of research. In May, Hummingbird Bioscience scientists shared preclinical data with promising results at an annual summit focused on protein and antibody engineering research. The team said that its fourth-generation ADC platform can potentially overcome drug-resistance to cancer treatment and can be fine-tuned to target specific kinds of tumors. Callio’s initial focus is on a therapy targeting HER2-related breast cancer.