AbCellera, RQ Bio Partner enter strategic collaboration

AbCellera and RQ Bio announced 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. The partnership aims to provide long-lasting infectious diseases medicines to high-risk patients by bringing together RQ Bio’s expertise in infectious diseases 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 medicines for infectious disease to patients faster." 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.