Musings from The Power List: Piers Ingram

Piers Ingram discusses the resurgence of immunology, engineering-led drug discovery, and why faster clinical execution will shape the next generation of medicines

By
Piers Ingram
October 20, 2026
5 min

The Medicine Maker

Overview

Piers Ingram identifies the entry into clinical testing of Hummingbird Bioscience’s first dual-payload antibody-drug conjugate, developed with Callio Therapeutics, as a professional highlight. He describes progress in engineered immunology and drug-discovery methods, while naming clinical trial execution as a key development bottleneck and emphasizing efficiency, regulatory dialogue, and emerging computational and laboratory models.

Background

The interview addresses drug-development priorities from the perspective of Piers Ingram, including therapeutic design, clinical research operations, and the use of data and technology. Ingram notes that antibody-drug conjugates have received substantial attention, while work combining immuno-oncology, ADCs, T-cell engagers, and other modalities continues. He frames durable adaptive immune responses as an important goal in oncology. The article is an interview and does not report clinical efficacy or safety results.

Data Highlights

The article provides no numerical trial results. It reports that a dual-payload ADC developed by Hummingbird Bioscience in partnership with Callio Therapeutics entered clinical testing earlier in the year; no candidate name, trial phase, patient numbers, or outcomes are specified.

Key Findings

Ingram cites the first dual-payload ADC developed by Hummingbird Bioscience with Callio Therapeutics entering clinical testing as a major professional highlight.
He describes ongoing progress in engineered approaches that combine immuno-oncology, ADCs, T-cell engagers, and other modalities, and identifies durable adaptive immune responses as an important oncology goal.
He identifies clinical execution—not the pace of internal scientific work—as the main bottleneck in drug development, citing the complexity of regulation, logistics, and stakeholder coordination.
He argues that improved use of clinical-trial data could help determine whether experimental medicines are working and inform subsequent development.
He advocates treating drug discovery as an engineering challenge, using design principles, iterative feedback, and data to improve molecule discovery and optimization.
He anticipates reduced reliance on animal models as AI, computational biology, and laboratory models advance, while noting that substantial work remains.

Clinical Implications

The interview highlights clinical-trial execution and the use of study data as areas Ingram considers important for accelerating development, but it provides no specific operational recommendations or clinical outcome evidence. Its discussion of dual-payload ADCs and other engineered modalities is developmental context rather than evidence of established clinical benefit.

Conclusion

Ingram’s account emphasizes engineering-oriented drug discovery, more effective clinical execution, and continued development of engineered immune therapies. The article reports a milestone in clinical translation but does not provide trial results from which to assess therapeutic performance.