Province and Federal Government Fuel AbCellera’s Vancouver Expansion for Medical Breakthroughs

A new commitment from the Province and the Government of Canada to AbCellera will support the made-in-B.C. anchor company to expand in Vancouver.

Building on B.C.’s new Life Sciences and Biomanufacturing Strategy, the Province of B.C. is contributing $75 million toward AbCellera’s expansion in Vancouver. The Government of Canada is contributing $225 million toward the project, which has a total value of $701 million.

“AbCellera is an amazing local success story and today’s commitment represents the largest single private investment in a life-sciences project in our history,” said Premier David Eby.

“This partnership will ensure British Columbians see the benefit of access to innovative therapies through clinical trials, while creating hundreds of good jobs and local training opportunities as we position B.C. as a global hub for life sciences and biomanufacturing.”

The project will see AbCellera build a state-of-the-art biotechnology campus that will include a new preclinical development facility and upgrades to existing facilities in Vancouver, creating more than 400 highly skilled jobs, as well as new training opportunities in life sciences and biomanufacturing.

The project will enable locally invented treatments in areas, such as oncology and immune diseases, to be developed and trialed in B.C., which will benefit patients in B.C. and around the world. It also builds the capability needed to conduct Phase 1 clinical trials in B.C.

“This project, and the commitment to co-invest alongside the governments of Canada and British Columbia, is a major step toward building the capabilities in Canada to translate scientific breakthroughs into new medicines that will benefit patients here and around the world,” said Carl Hansen, founder and chief executive officer of AbCellera.

“With a decade of building our teams, technology and expertise, this co-investment will accelerate the execution of our strategy and bring new treatments into clinical development.”

AbCellera emerged out of the University of British Columbia in 2012, originally with six employees, and now employs more than 500 across its locations in Vancouver; Boston; Sydney, Australia; and Cambridge, United Kingdom.