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AbCellera (ABCL), Everest to Co-Develop New Antibody Therapies

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AbCellera Biologics Inc. (ABCL - Free Report) announced that it has entered into a collaboration and license agreement with China-based Everest Medicines to discover therapeutic antibodies for up to 10 (10) indications targeted by the latter.

Per the agreement terms, Everest will have the right to develop and market the antibodies discovered as a result of the partnership. Conversely, AbCellera will receive research payments from Everest. The company will also be eligible to milestone fees and royalties on the net sales of therapies developed under this alliance.

AbCellera’s shares increased 1.2% on Aug 22 following the above news. However, the stock has plunged 47% so far this year compared with the industry’s 0.6% decline.

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The partnership is aimed at expanding and accelerating Everest’s pipeline across multiple indications with the initial focus on oncology indications.

The deal will allow Everest an access to AbCellera’s proprietary technology stack including the latter’s humanized mouse technology Trianni Mouse, which is designed to maximize the immune response of the human antibodies in rodents, and the OrthoMab platform, which utilizes protein engineering methods to create native bispecific antibodies from the combination of any two antibodies.

Apart from the deal inked with Everest, the company’s technology stack led to collaborations with the bigwigs for discovery of antibodies across multiple indications. The company’s tie-up with Eli Lilly (LLY - Free Report) led to the development of two therapeutic antibodies, namely bamlanivimab and bebtelovimab to treat and preventCOVID-19.

Earlier this week, Lilly announced that it reached a joint procurement agreement with the European Commission to supply up to 220,000 doses of its antibody cocktail bamlanivimab together with etesevimab for the treatment of confirmed cases of COVID-19.

AbCellera is also collaborating with Gilead Sciences (GILD - Free Report) for the discovery of multi-target antibodies across multiple indications.

Zacks Rank & Stock to Consider

AbCellera currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the same sector is Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN - Free Report) , which currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Regeneron’s earnings per share estimates for 2021 have increased from $49.91 to $59.80 in the past 60 days. The same for 2022 has risen from $40.91 to $46.72 over the same period. The stock has rallied 34% in the year so far.

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