Zebra Biologics Inc. to Collaborate with AbbVie to Discover New Antibody Therapeutics

Zebra Biologics Inc., an emerging pre-clinical stage biotechnology company, announced that the company has entered into a collaboration with AbbVie to discover agonist antibody therapeutics for inflammatory diseases. Zebra will use its novel and patented function-based antibody discovery platform to generate antibodies that activate biological pathways associated with targets designated by AbbVie. Zebra and AbbVie will collaborate closely on the identification and pre-clinical evaluation of emerging candidates. The targets were not disclosed.

Under the terms of the agreement, Zebra will lead the discovery of candidate agonist antibodies for designated targets and will collaborate with AbbVie in pre-clinical validation of select clinical candidates. Upon advancement of clinical candidates, AbbVie would be responsible for clinical development, manufacturing, regulatory approval and world-wide commercialization. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“This collaboration is an important step in the evolution of Zebra from an early stage discovery company toward our vision of developing ground breaking biologic drug therapies for many serious medical conditions,” said Ronald M. Lindsay, PhD., Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Zebra. “Since inception in 2013, we have focused on expanding the application of Zebra’s core technology to multiples types of drug targets across a broad spectrum of therapeutic areas. We are now very pleased to enter into a significant collaboration with AbbVie, the world’s leader in developing biologic therapies for painful and debilitating inflammatory diseases.”