AbCellera (Nasdaq: ABCL) announcedthat it has expanded its existing collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) to discover therapeutic antibodies for programs in immunology, cardiovascular disease, and neuroscience. The expansion builds upon the successful research collaboration established in March 2020, which included eight de novo programs for targets selected by Lilly and an exclusive license to AbCellera’s COVID-19 antibody program.

AbCellera has advanced all eight programs under the original agreement, and the licensed program resulted in emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for two COVID-19 antibody therapies co-developed by the companies.

“Lilly has been a terrific partner and is one of the most admired and innovative pharmaceutical companies in the world," said Carl Hansen, Ph.D., founder and CEO of AbCellera. “We are excited to deepen our partnership and potentially increase our impact on patients across multiple therapeutic areas.”

Under the expanded agreement, Lilly has the right to develop and commercialize therapeutic antibodies resulting from the collaboration. AbCellera has received an upfront payment, will receive research payments, and is eligible to receive downstream milestone payments and royalties on net product sales.