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Rallybio teams up with Canadian company on rare disease drugs

New Haven’s Rallybio will team up with a Canadian biotech to develop new antibody-based drugs for rare diseases, the companies announced Thursday.

Rallybio will partner with AbCellera, a company based in Vancouver, B.C., that has created an “antibody discovery engine” to help develop new drugs.

As part of the partnership deal, AbCellera and Rallybio will co-develop up to five rare disease therapeutic targets, which will be chosen together by both companies.The partnership’s first focus will be on treatments for patients with rare metabolic diseases.

“This multi-year, multi-target collaboration will combine AbCellera’s antibody discovery engine with Rallybio’s clinical and commercial expertise in rare diseases to identify optimal clinical candidates and ultimately deliver therapies to patients,” the companies said in a statement.

Rallybio, which went public in July 2021, announced a $50 million capital raise last month to fund development of its pipeline, which includes three clinical-stage drugs. 

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Two of Rallybio’s drug candidates showed positive results in clinical trials the past year, including one for the prevention of a serious blood disease in fetuses and newborns. 

AbCellera has developed a therapeutic candidate that New York-based biotech Regeneron Pharmaceuticals recently moved into the preclinical stage, according to the statement. 

AbCellera founder and CEO Carl Hansen said, “By bringing together Rallybio’s deep expertise in rare diseases with AbCellera’s integrated technology for delivering clinical leads with unmatched precision and speed, this partnership creates a unique advantage that we believe will deliver new and transformative medicines to patients.”

Rallybio CEO Martin Mackay said, “We are excited to establish this partnership and look forward to working closely with our colleagues at AbCellera as we build novel medicines together.”

Contact Liese Klein at lklein@newhavenbiz.com.

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