The Team Behind a First-in-Class Target

At the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, now part of Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Dr. Frederic Bard identified GALA, a pathway that relocates glycosylation enzymes to the endoplasmic reticulum and drives extracellular matrix degradation. GALA activation exposes a new target at the cell surface: glycosylated Calnexin, a chaperone protein that appears on diseased cells.

In 2021, Fred and Dr. Guy Heathers began building Albatroz to turn that finding into medicines. Since then, Albatroz has published in Nature Cell Biology and Nature Communications, built antibodies that protect tissue in preclinical models, and won Amgen’s first Golden Ticket in Singapore.

Albatroz’s Calnexin targeting technology is first-in-class, with granted patents and programs in oncology, arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.