AbCellera's Rapid Pandemic Response Platform Contributes to the World's First COVID-19 Clinical Trial for a Potential Monoclonal Antibody Treatment

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 1, 2020 – AbCellera today announced that LY-CoV555, the lead antibody from the collaboration between AbCellera and Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly), has entered into human testing for the potential treatment of COVIDcampaign-pages/bispecifics/archive/capability-pages/cd3/-19. LY-CoV555 is developed from a fully human monoclonal antibody identified from the first blood sample obtained from a North American patient who recovered from COVIDcampaign-pages/bispecifics/archive/capability-pages/cd3/-19. LY-CoV555 was developed at record speed, taking less than three months to advance from screen to first-in-human clinical trials. Details regarding Lilly’s clinical study can be found here.

AbCellera develops technologies that remove the bottlenecks in drug discovery and works collaboratively with biotech and pharma companies to bring new therapies to patients. AbCellera quickly scans, decodes, and analyzes antibodies from natural immune systems to discover antibodies that can potentially be developed into novel treatments.

“Our response to COVIDcampaign-pages/bispecifics/archive/capability-pages/cd3/-19 is a time-compressed example of why AbCellera exists – to build and bring together the teams and technologies needed to solve the toughest problems in drug development,” said Carl Hansen, Ph.D., CEO of AbCellera. “Lilly has moved with incredible speed and agility, and we are proud to work alongside them as they advance the first potential antibody treatment against COVIDcampaign-pages/bispecifics/archive/capability-pages/cd3/-19 into human trials.”

“At AbCellera, we work everyday to make a difference in the lives patients. Over the past three months our scientists, software developers, engineers, and supporting teams have all worked tirelessly to make what seemed impossible a reality,” said Ester Falconer, Ph.D., Head of Research & Development at AbCellera. “We feel privileged to be of service in the global fight against COVIDcampaign-pages/bispecifics/archive/capability-pages/cd3/-19.”

Leading up to the COVIDcampaign-pages/bispecifics/archive/capability-pages/cd3/-19 outbreak, AbCellera invested two years in adapting its technology to rapidly respond to pandemics through its participation in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3). AbCellera will continue to invest in technologies and capacity for both immediate and long-term rapid pandemic responses. In addition to its ongoing participation in the P3 program, earlier this year AbCellera received support from the Government of Canada to make long-term investments in technology and manufacturing infrastructure for antibody therapeutics against future pandemic threats.

AbCellera’s response to COVIDcampaign-pages/bispecifics/archive/capability-pages/cd3/-19 includes collaborations with Lilly and the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Lilly is independently leading the clinical development and testing of the resulting potential antibody therapeutics.

About LY-CoV555

LY-CoV555 is a highly potent, neutralizing IgG1 monoclonal antibody that targets the spike protein of SARS-CoVcampaign-pages/cd3/campaign-pages/cd3/presentations-posters/presentations-posters/presentations-and-posters/presentations-and-posters/presentations-and-posters/presentations-and-posters/presentations-and-posters/presentations-and-posters/presentations-and-posters/presentations-and-posters/presentations-and-posters/-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVIDcampaign-pages/bispecifics/archive/capability-pages/cd3/-19. Its mechanism of action is designed to block viral attachment and entry into human cells, and to neutralize the virus, potentially preventing and treating COVIDcampaign-pages/bispecifics/archive/capability-pages/cd3/-19.

About AbCellera Biologics Inc.

AbCellera is a privately held biotech with a drug discovery platform that searches and analyzes natural immune systems to find antibodies that can be used to prevent and treat disease. AbCellera’s technology, which combines high-throughput microfluidics, hyper-scale data science, machine learning, bioinformatics, and genomics, identifies new first-in-class drugs and reduces the time it takes to bring treatments to the clinic. AbCellera's partners include leading biotechnology companies, global health organizations, and many of the top 10 biopharmaceutical companies. For more information, visit abcellera.com.

Inquiries:

Jessica Yingling; media@abcellera.com, +1.236.521.6774 (AbCellera Media)

Kevin Heyries; bd@abcellera.com, +1.604.559.9005 (AbCellera Business Development)