ImmunoPrecise Antibodies expecting significant revenue growth in 2019

• Biotechnology company that provides state-of-the-art therapeutic antibody discovery across the entire pipeline
• Offers a complete portfolio of antibody discovery, characterization, and production technologies
• World’s only single source contract resource organization to offer the full complement of antibody discovery platforms

What does ImmunoPrecise do?

Biotech company ImmunoPrecise Antibodies Ltd (CVE:IPA) (OTCMKTS:IPATF) provides custom antibody development and production services and protein Expression for research and development.

Its aim is to produce these therapeutically relevant antibodies, in a shorter period of time, with the highest probability of progressing to clinical trials.

Since its inception in 1989, ImmunoPrecise has been serving clinical research and biological markets worldwide. Its customers are pharma and biotech companies as well as non-profit research: universities, medical charities and grant-funded collaborations.

The company operates from a state-of-the-art laboratory at the Vancouver Island Technology Park in Victoria, British Columbia, which house its tissue culture and B-cell screening facilities, as well as an animal care unit.

It has subsidiary operations at U-Protein Express B.V., in the Life Science Incubator, Utrecht, and ModiQuest Research, Oss, both in the Netherlands.

ImmunoPrecise wants to emulate the success of Invitrogen, which became Life Technologies before being taken over by Thermo Fisher for US$13.6 billion. Invitrogen’s bedrock business was selling kits for molecular cloning, but a series of well-judged acquisitions transformed it into the go-to supplier to the biotechnology industry.

ImmunoPrecise, which has been around for 25 years but only listed on the Toronto Venture Exchange in 2016, is at the start of a similar journey.

Its services are in high demand, given the changes in the multi-billion-dollar drugs business over the last decade. There has been a shift from the screening of traditional small-molecule chemical pharmaceuticals to bespoke biologicals, many of which are monoclonal antibodies (MABs) designed to safely and effectively tackle cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and even psoriasis.

In the US, insurers have shown a willingness to pay for the treatments, which tend to be quite expensive, while patients are demanding best-in-class biologicals that are highly targeted for grievous diseases and generally less toxic.

How is it doing?

ImmunoPrecise is rapidly bringing on biopharmaceutical clients with its B-cell and phage display platforms.

Companies like Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Ablexis, Trianni, and Harbour BioMed, among others, are getting in on the action. IPA’s B-cell and phage display programs have been launched on seven of its nine client platforms, and one client is running three programs simultaneously.

The company recently announced a new collaboration to develop a therapeutic candidate to combat an undisclosed immuno-oncology target using the biotech company’s proprietary screening platform.

The new antibody discovery collaboration is with Edmonton-based Entos Pharmaceuticals Inc, which develops nucleic acid-based therapies.

The agreement sees the two companies using ImmunoPrecise’s B cell Select platform to aid in discovering new antibodies to use in cancer immunotherapy. B cell Select is capable of screening millions of cells to identify diverse antibodies.

Inflection points:

• Expansion of animal facilities to propel preclinical capabilities
•  Expecting significant increase in contract value, pharmaceutical client base, and revenue growth in 2019
•  Planning NASDAQ listing in calendar year 2019
•  Opening of US research and manufacturing facilities, and US expansion for business development
• Opening to partnerships and collaborations with pharma (outside of fee-for-service)

What the boss says:

Recently, the company took a bold step by guaranteeing the success rate of campaigns powered by its proprietary B cell Select Antibody Discovery platform, which allows for selection of target specific B cells from any tissue in a variety of animal species.

"We believe that backing our expertise with a success guarantee, in a royalty-free service offering, aligns our B Cell Select platform with the goals of our clients worldwide," said CEO Jennifer Bath in a statement accompanying the news.

Bath said the experienced team at ImmunoPrecise channeled the B cell Select Antibody Discovery platform effectively to deliver an over 94% success rate in achieving their clients’ project goals.

"Ultimately, our optimized platform, exhibiting a minimum 94% success rate, along with our success guarantee, decreases turnaround time, attenuates risk, and reduces the overall cost for our clients in getting antibody therapeutics to the clinic,” said Bath.

She said the company was both “humbled and honored” to be servicing the drug discovery and antibody therapeutics niche.

Contact Angela at [email protected]

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