Absci Corp. announced Friday that it has entered into a research collaboration with pharmaceutical giant Merck potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Under the agreement, Vancouver-based Absci (Nasdaq: ABSI) will use its non-standard amino acid technology to produce enzymes Merck can use in its biomanufacturing process. Absci will receive upfront and milestone payments.
Merck (NYSE: MRK) also has the option to enter into a drug discovery collaboration agreement with Absci for three disease targets. If that happens, Absci could receive up to $610 million in upfront fees and milestone payments for all three, along with research funding and tiered royalties on sales.
“Merck’s been a partner of ours in the past, and this is really exciting because it shows that once we’re integrated within an organization, we just start to expand and they utilize our technology not only for manufacturing but for the drug discovery,” CEO Sean McClain said.
The announcement comes about six months after Absci went public on the Nasdaq exchange. McClain has said his ambition is for Absci to become the Google search engine of synthetic biology.
Absci says its AI-powered platform can help create novel biologics faster and cheaper by integrating two processes: drug discovery and the generation of cell lines to manufacture those drugs. Absci has about a dozen drug programs in progress with pharma partners, including Merck.
“At Merck we are continually evaluating new ways to build, expand and refine our biologics capabilities,” Dr. Fiona Marshall, senior vice president and head of discovery, preclinical and translation medicine at Merck Research Laboratories, said in a written statement. “Absci’s platform offers a compelling opportunity to design new biologic candidates and explore the expression of complex proteins.”
Absci was trading at $6.14 on Thursday, down from $21 the day of the IPO. But McClain said the company has plenty of runway.
“It doesn’t worry us at all,” he said. “We’re keeping our heads down and focused and we have enough cash to be where need to be. I’m extremely excited about 2022.”
