AbCellera and RQ Bio Partner to Accelerate the Advancement of New Therapies for Infectious Disease

VANCOUVER, British Columbia & LONDON, March 22, 2023 – AbCellera (Nasdaq: ABCL) and RQ Bio announced today that they have entered into a strategic collaboration to identify optimal clinical candidates for up to three infectious disease targets selected by RQ Bio, including influenza and cytomegalovirus (CMV). The partnership aims to provide long-lasting infectious diseases medicines to high-risk patients by bringing together RQ Bio’s expertise in infectious disease and viral evolution with AbCellera’s discovery engine for finding rare, highly potent antibodies.  

“We believe antibody therapies have an important role to play in protecting the most clinically at-risk populations from infectious diseases,” said Carl Hansen, Ph.D., founder and CEO of AbCellera. “AbCellera’s discovery engine complements RQ Bio’s capabilities and provides a technology advantage that we believe will help bring new infectious disease medicines to patients faster.”

“Both RQ Bio and AbCellera have proven track records in developing infectious disease medicines that have a rapid impact on vulnerable patients,” said Hugo Fry, CEO of RQ Bio. “We look forward to working with AbCellera to quickly advance our pipeline of infectious disease medicines for people who are at risk of severe disease or death from viral infections.”

Under the terms of the agreement, RQ Bio has the right to develop and commercialize therapeutic antibodies resulting from the collaboration. AbCellera will receive research payments and is eligible to receive downstream clinical and regulatory milestone payments and royalties on net sales of products.

About AbCellera Biologics Inc.

AbCellera is breaking the barriers of conventional antibody drug discovery to bring better medicines to patients, sooner. AbCellera’s engine integrates expert teams, technology, and facilities with the data science and automation needed to propel antibody-based medicines from target to clinic in nearly every therapeutic area with unprecedented precision and speed. AbCellera provides innovative biotechs and leading pharmaceutical companies with a competitive advantage that empowers them to move quickly, reduce cost, and tackle the toughest problems in drug development. For more information, please visit www.abcellera.com.

About RQ Bio

RQ Bio’s mission is to develop medicines based on potent broad-spectrum monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to provide instant and long-lasting immunity for vulnerable people at risk of severe disease or death from current and future variants of viral infections. RQ Bio has achieved this by combining innovative excellence in core areas to create a smarter approach to antibody generation. RQ Bio has multiple sources of leads and a deep collaboration with the University of Oxford. The Company was founded by scientific experts, which worked to build a community of infectious disease antibody experts focussed on the development of rapid and efficient delivery of highly potent neutralising antibodies to help support the UK COVID-19 response. For more information, please visit www.rqbiotechnology.com / LinkedIn

AbCellera Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements are based on management’s current beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. All statements contained in this release other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our ability to develop, commercialize and achieve market acceptance of our current and planned products and services, our research and development efforts, and other matters regarding our business strategies, use of capital, results of operations and financial position, and plans and objectives for future operations.

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AbCellera Contacts:

Media: Jessica Yingling, Ph.D.; media@abcellera.com, +1(236)521-6774

Business Development: Murray McCutcheon, Ph.D.; bd@abcellera.com, +1(604)559-9005

Investor Relations: Josephine Hellschlienger, Ph.D.; ir@abcellera.com, +1(778)729-9116

RQ Bio Contacts:

media@rqbiotechnology.com