Prellis Biologics joins forces with Eli Lilly to accelerate the discovery of human antibodies

24 September 2025

Berkeley-based Prellis Biologics, Inc., developer of human in vitro antibody generation platform, announces collaboration with Eli Lilly to accelerate the discovery of human antibodies for multiple disease targets.

Prellis’ EXIS™ lymph node platform for target‑specific human antibody generation is a shining example of ingenuity by which several technologies were combined to capture human-relevant physiology.

The traditional method of antibody generation typically involves immunization in animals that, in addition to ethical concerns, pose several difficulties - epitopes may be human-specific, structurally different or not immunogenic in animals and antibody humanization may introduce loss of affinity. The human immune system diverges significantly from that of other species in its somatic hypermutation patterns, Fc receptor biology, glycosylation, and tolerance mechanisms.

Prellis’ approach has several major advantages over animal immunization since it enable human-relevant production of fully human antibodies against a wide array of targets, with lower immunogenicity risk and more specific epitope targeting. Additionally, where animal immunization takes several months, Prellis can provide antigen-specific antibodies within weeks, affinity maturation included.

To produce functional human antibody selection and maturation, Prellis leverages bioprinting, organoid and AI. Its lymph node model is composed of a bioprinted lymph node scaffold and human donor-derived immune cells that are seeded into the scaffold, forming lymph node organoids. Upon antigen-exposure, organoids mounts an immune response, generating a diverse set of human antibodies that are subsequently analysed and prioritised through AI to select high-affinity, low immunogenicity developable antibody candidates.

"Our mission is to transform how antibody-based therapies are developed to create more precise, effective, and accessible candidates. We believe this agile approach represents the future of medicine, where biology and artificial intelligence synergistically converge to address complex diseases faster than ever before", emphasized Les Miranda, CSO of Prellis

Under the terms of the agreement, Prellis and Lilly will jointly discover and develop human antibody therapeutics for selected targets. Prellis will receive an up-front payment, development and sales milestones, and royalties for the licensed antibodies. Prellis’ is not at its first collaboration of this kind with big pharma - in 2022, Bristol Myers Squibb and Sanofi had also benefited from Prellis’ rapid-cycle human-based antibody generation services.