Hexagon Bio

Hexagon Bio is a private, preclinical-stage biotech founded in 2016 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The company is pioneering a novel platform to discover and develop new payloads for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), aiming to address the critical challenge of tumor resistance to current ADC therapies. With a leadership team boasting deep experience from Amgen, Gilead, and Genentech, Hexagon combines computational genomics and experimental biology to mine microbial genomes for novel bioactive molecules. Its goal is to expand the indication space for ADCs and deliver deeper, more durable responses for cancer patients.

Integrated computational genomics and synthetic biology platform for the discovery of novel natural product-derived ADC payloads. It uses bioinformatics to mine microbial genomes for biosynthetic gene clusters, followed by heterologous expression and medicinal chemistry optimization to create new cytotoxic warheads designed to overcome resistance.

Hexagon competes in the crowded and innovative ADC space. Competitors include companies developing novel payloads (e.g., Mersana Therapeutics, ImmunoGen (now AbbVie), Byondis), alternative conjugation technologies, and bispecific ADCs. Large pharmaceutical companies like AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo, and Pfizer also have major internal ADC R&D efforts. Differentiation hinges on the novelty and efficacy of Hexagon's payload mechanisms.