Eli Lilly and AbCellera Use AI to Slash Antibody Selection Time for COVID-19

Eli Lilly and Company (Indianapolis, Ind, USA) and AbCellera Biologics Inc. (Vancouver, Canada) have speeded up their efforts to co-develop antibody products for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19 by leveraging AbCellera's proprietary AI system to empower the search.

Both the companies have entered into an agreement to co-develop antibody products for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19 by leveraging Celium, AbCellera’s proprietary antibody visualization software. Within one week of receiving a blood sample from one of the first US patients who recovered from COVID-19, AbCellera screened over five million immune cells looking for ones that produced functional antibodies that helped the patient neutralize the virus and recover from the disease. From this effort, AbCellera has identified 530 unique fully human antibody sequences, the largest panel of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies ever reported. Within 23 days, AbCellera went on to reduce those 530 antibodies to the 24 most viable for development.

This has been made possible by the use of AI and machine learning to expand the quantity of data that can be screened, analyzing thousands of antibody sequences and corresponding data regarding potency and applicability for drug development that has been accumulated over years of research. Using high throughput imaging and machine vision, AbCellera’s technology is capable of detecting which cells make antibodies that would be suitable as therapeutics. AbCellera has used data sets of real antibodies, each having over 100 different properties, to train its machine learning software.

"AbCellera's platform has delivered, with unprecedented speed, by far the world's largest panel of anti-SAR-CoV-2 antibodies," said Carl Hansen, Ph.D., CEO of AbCellera. "In 11 days, we've discovered hundreds of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the current outbreak, moved into functional testing with global experts in virology, and signed a co-development agreement with one of the world's leading biopharmaceutical companies. We're deeply impressed with the speed and agility of Lilly's response to this global challenge. Together, our teams are committed to delivering a countermeasure to stop the outbreak."

"With the number of cases rapidly increasing all over the world, doctors and patients are seeking a therapeutic intervention that can speed their recovery or prevent the disease. Lilly is committed to playing our part to bring innovation to patients amidst this global outbreak," said Daniel Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., Lilly's chief scientific officer and president of Lilly Research Laboratories. "We've partnered with AbCellera because we're impressed with the speed and quality of their efforts. We are moving at top speed to create a potential treatment to help patients. While typically a new therapeutic antibody program might take years to get in the clinic, our goal with AbCellera is to be testing potential new therapies in patients within the next four months."

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