BigHat Biosciences has dosed the first patient in a Phase 1 clinical trial of BHB810, a novel antibody-drug conjugate targeting gastric cancer and advanced gastrointestinal tumours. The AI-designed therapy targets Cadherin-17 and represents the company's first programme to advance from AI-generated design into human studies. The dose escalation trial will evaluate safety, tolerability, and preliminary antitumor activity in patients with advanced gastric and gastroesophageal tumours. In preclinical studies across nearly 30 tumour models, BHB810 achieved complete or near-complete tumour clearance, including in cancers with low CDH17 expression. BigHat is also developing BHB299, a solid tumour treatment expected to enter clinical trials in 2027. The San Mateo-based company maintains active collaborations with Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Eli Lilly.

BigHat Biosciences has appointed Stefan Weigand as Chief Scientific Officer. Weigand joins from Roche, where he led Large Molecule Research, overseeing approximately 350 scientists and the company's biologics pipeline from discovery through Phase I. At Roche, Weigand doubled the biologics research organisation's output to five to six molecules entering first-in-human trials annually. His team established therapeutic platforms including BrainShuttle and CrossMab, enabling over 60 molecules to advance into clinical development. At BigHat, Weigand will lead scientific strategy across the company's AI-driven drug design platform, which combines generative protein design with high-throughput experimental cycles. The platform uses Bayesian optimisation and reinforcement learning to engineer antibodies and complex protein therapeutics.