AbCellera has entered into a multi-year agreement with Eli Lilly on the discovery of antibodies for up to nine Lilly-selected therapeutic targets.
Under the strategic research licensing agreement, Lilly will have the rights to develop and commercialize therapeutic products resulting from the collaboration.
AbCellera and Lilly were in discussions about the agreement in early 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the companies worked quickly to focus the initial scope of the collaboration on creating antibody therapeutics for the possible prevention and treatment of COVID-19.
Lilly will select up to eight additional targets during the multi-year agreement.
“Lilly chose to partner with AbCellera because of their novel technology platform, and it has enabled the rapid identification of lead antibody candidates for our COVID-19 efforts. We’re excited to now apply it to other therapeutic targets,” said Daniel Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., Lilly’s chief scientific officer and president of Lilly Research Laboratories.
“AbCellera’s capabilities and team are extremely impressive and we are proud of the progress we’ve made together thus far.”
Applying best-in-class technology and custom innovation to each project, AbCellera partners with leading pharma and biotech to enable programs for any target class. With more than 55 successfully completed programs, AbCellera is transforming the field of biologics by reducing the time it takes to identify lead candidates and advance new products towards the clinic.