Two drug discovery collaborations announced this week signal continued momentum in platform-based partnerships, as Protillion Biosciences secured a multi-target deal with Merck worth up to $510 million and Jazz Pharmaceuticals partnered with AbCellera to develop T-cell engaging multispecific antibodies for gastrointestinal cancers.

Protillion Biosciences enters multi-target collaboration with Merck

Protillion Biosciences signed a multi-target discovery collaboration and license agreement with Merck, combining Protillion's megascale protein engineering platform with Merck's global drug discovery infrastructure.¹

Under the terms of the agreement, Protillion is set to receive an undisclosed upfront payment and is eligible for research, development, and commercial milestone payments upwards of $510 million across multiple programs.

"Protillion's platform offers a compelling opportunity and we look forward to working with the team to advance these programs," said Juan Alvarez, PhD, vice president of discovery biologics at Merck Research Laboratories.

The deal centers on Protillion's proprietary Prot-MaP technology, a megascale data generation platform designed to produce massive, just-in-time training sets for protein design AI. The platform has the ability to characterize millions of protein variants per run, enabling quantitative analysis of protein libraries at throughput levels that the company says avoids the common pitfalls of AI model overfitting.¹ According to Protillion, this approach enables the identification of biologics with sophisticated therapeutic profiles, including pH-dependent sweeping and multi-target specificity, that are difficult to achieve through traditional discovery methods.

"Merck is a global leader in biopharmaceutical innovation, making them an ideal partner to deploy our technology," said Curtis Layton, PhD, CEO and co-founder of Protillion. "This relationship underscores the power of our platform to solve complex protein engineering challenges."

Jazz Pharmaceuticals and AbCellera partner on T-cell engagers for GI cancers

Jazz Pharmaceuticals and AbCellera entered a preclinical research collaboration, option, and license agreement to discover and develop T-cell engaging (TCE) multispecific antibodies targeting gastrointestinal cancers and other solid tumors.²

Per the terms of the collaboration, AbCellera will receive $56 million in upfront payments for the first two research programs, with an additional $28 million due upon initiation of a third program, which Jazz is committed to starting within 12 months.² Should Jazz exercise its option for development on any program, AbCellera is eligible to receive up to $792 million per program in option fees, development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments, plus tiered royalties ranging from mid-single digits to low double-digits on net sales.²

"TCEs drive highly targeted immune activation, which has the potential to significantly advance outcomes relative to existing treatments in these cancers," said Carl Hansen, PhD, founder and CEO of AbCellera.

Under the structure of the agreement, AbCellera will conduct discovery and early-stage research for each program. Jazz holds an option for each program and, upon exercise and payment of an option fee, gains exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize the resulting candidates. The two companies may also mutually agree to initiate up to two additional programs, with AbCellera potentially conducting IND-enabling studies and manufacturing clinical supply.

AbCellera's T-cell engager platform spans discovery through clinical manufacturing and includes proprietary panels of CD3-binding antibodies, costimulatory targeting arms, multi-specific protein engineering technology, and high-throughput functional assays, capabilities designed to generate optimized development candidates for difficult-to-treat cancers.

"This research collaboration with AbCellera directly aligns with Jazz's rare disease strategy, expanding our focus on GI cancers and building on our existing expertise in oncology," said Josh Allen, PhD, chief scientific officer of oncology at Jazz Pharmaceuticals. "We look forward to collaborating with AbCellera to progress potential best-in-class TCE multi-specific antibodies for GI cancers and other solid tumors into clinical development."

Sources

1. Protillion Biosciences Announces Drug Discovery Collaboration with Merck Protillion Biosciences June 16, 2026 https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260616568223/en/Protillion-Biosciences-Announces-Drug-Discovery-Collaboration-with-Merck
2. Jazz Pharmaceuticals and AbCellera Announce Collaboration to Discover Next-Generation T-cell Engaging Multispecific Antibodies Jazz Pharmaceuticals June 17, 2026 https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jazz-pharmaceuticals-and-abcellera-announce-collaboration-to-discover-next-generation-t-cell-engaging-multispecific-antibodies-302802284.html