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AbCellera is an emerging antibody discovery company led by Carl Hansen, a professor at the University of British Columbia. Formed around his core inventions on microfluidic valves, AbCellera combines microfluidics and next-generation sequencing to identify new antibodies. Similar to Adimab, AbCellera is of interest due to the unique economics it generates. Instead of developing a drug internally, the business model discovers unique molecular matter and licenses it out to companies whose core competency is clinical development. With the high clinical demand and vast target space for antibodies (graphic below represents the large pipeline of new antibodies coming to market), this type of business model is a great case study of how to create a reinvestment moat in the drug industry.
Key findings
- Antibody companies have six important levers to build technical moats: target solubility, potency maturation, tolerance, immunogenicity, rare specificities, and diversity (i.e. CDRs).
- The ability to create a drug discovery business model with unique economics requires 4 features: new indications to pursue, competition from generics, improved clinical success, and new technologies.
- Find ways to validate technology before pursuing high-value…
