Absci Corp. (Nasdaq: ABSI) is opening its second far-flung outpost, this one in Switzerland, giving the Vancouver-based company a foothold in the European pharmaceutical market.
The generative AI drug creation company on Tuesday announced the creation of the Zug Innovation Center in the city of the same name. Zug is a leading European biotech hub, and Switzerland is also home to some of the world's leading pharmaceutical manufacturers, including Roche and Novartis.
“It’s a small office, but it’s more about having the presence there and driving business development,” said CEO Sean McClain. “There’s a lot of great talent in Switzerland."
Want more Portland business news? Sign up for our daily email newsletters.
Absci’s wholly owned subsidiary, Absci GmbH, announced the hires of two senior executives to lead its drug creation team: Christine Lemke, as senior vice president of portfolio and growth strategy, and Christian Stegmann, as senior vice president of drug creation.
Lemke served as head of Global Corporate Development at Ferring International Center SA and previously worked at Bay, Shire and Takeda. Stegmann specializes in taking a drug target to clinical development, and he also held R&D leadership roles at Bayer.
Absci last year opened an office in Manhattan to be close to AI talent and position the company for recruitment and collaboration.
Earlier this year, Absci announced it had used “zero-shot” generative AI to create new antibodies on a computer, a process that has the potential to drastically reduce the time it takes to get a novel drug into the clinic.
Absci doesn’t yet have any contracts to develop therapies in Europe, but McClain said the company has “a lot of exciting stuff in the pipeline.”
“We’re hoping in the near-to-mid-term to make some exciting announcements,” he said.
