Aug. 3 at 10:24 AM
$ABCL
The Vertex deal is another example of
$ABCL
building a Palantir-like AIP platform for biotech.
Vertex is effectively renting AbCellera’s multispecific T-cell engager platform to discover potential drugs for autoimmune diseases and other conditions.
It is paying
$28M upfront and covering all R&D costs under the collaboration. Vertex gets the right to develop and commercialize the resulting molecules, which means it also takes on the expensive clinical-development and commercialization risk for any programs it advances
AbCellera leads discovery and early development without having to fund the work itself, while keeping the right to future payments as the drugs progress and a cut of sales if any make it to market
This is about as asset- and risk-light as a biotech partnership gets. Partners already seem willing to trust AbCellera’s platform to discover and engineer differentiated molecules, even at this early stage and largely before major clinical validation of the platform
