Bristol Myers Squibb and Prellis Biologics Partner to Build Human Antibody Libraries

Prellis Biologics, a US-based biotechnology company, announced on Jan. 13, 2022 that it has entered into a multi-target drug discovery collaboration and licensing agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb, which will utilize Prellis’ externalized human immune system (EXIS) to create high-affinity human antibodies targeting human proteins.

Under the agreement, Prellis and Bristol Myers Squibb will generate human antibody libraries for select targets. Bristol Myers Squibb will pay Prellis an undisclosed up-front payment and funding for research activities as well as development, sales milestones, and royalties for licensed antibodies.

Prellis’ EXIS platform is based on human lymph node organoids, which can break tolerance mechanisms in vitro allowing for the creation of high affinity human antibodies.

"…[T]he EXIS platform provides high affinity antibodies, derived from lymph node organoids printed with Prellis’ foundational technology, using human PBMCs [peripheral blood mononuclear cells]," said Melanie P. Matheu, founder and CEO of Prellis, in a company press release. "We are looking forward to working with Bristol Myers Squibb to demonstrate advantages of in-vitro human antibody discovery with the EXIS platform."

"The EXIS platform effectively breaks tolerance, enabling direct discovery of human antibodies to challenging human antigens in less than two week," said Kevin Chapman, chief scientific officer of Prellis, in the press release.

Source: Prellis Biologics