Billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel joins the board of Canadian antibody therapy developer AbCellera as it prepares for U.S. initial public offering.
Peter Thiel has joined as a nonexecutive board member of AbCellera Biologics Inc., as the Canadian antibody-drug discovery platform prepares for one of the biggest initial public offerings in the biotech industry this year.
Thiel, who is also on the boards of Facebook Inc. and Palantir Technologies Inc., acquired a small stake in AbCellera this year, according to people with knowledge of the matter, declining to be identified because the information is private. Bloomberg first reported Thiel’s appointment to the board earlier on Thursday.
AbCellera plans to announce within a few days its intention to list on Nasdaq in an offering that will likely value the business at several billion dollars, according to those people. The share sale could take place as soon as December, one of the people said.
AbCellera said in a statement that Thiel brings to the table experience in scaling technology companies. A spokesperson declined to comment on the company’s financing plans.
AbCellera screens, selects and analyzes millions of naturally produced antibodies to find next-generation drug candidates, fast tracking an otherwise lengthy and cumbersome process with machine learning and data science.
Aside from Thiel, the Vancouver-based company’s backers include German entrepreneur Christian Angermayer, Viking Global Investors and healthcare investment firm OrbiMed Advisors LLC.
AbCellera founder and chief executive officer Carl Hansen, a former professor in the department of physics and astronomy at the University of British Columbia, is holding presentations about the IPO for technology and biotech investors, the people said.
One of the most promising drugs in AbCellera’s pipeline is a so-called monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19, which it’s co-developing with Indianapolis-based drug giant Eli Lilly & Co.
The therapy, known as Bamlanivimab, received an emergency-use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Nov. 9 to treat people who have mild-tomoderate symptoms of COVID-19.
Lilly anticipates manufacturing one million doses before the end of the year.
Monoclonal antibodies are being developed by a handful of companies, including Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., AstraZeneca Plc, and GlaxoSmithKline Plc and its partner Vir Biotechnology Inc.