Absci Corporation (NASDAQ: ABSI) is engaged as a drug and target discovery company, which utilizes high-powered artificial intelligence and synthetic biology to build the therapeutic potential of proteins. Shares of the biotechnology company are rallying 27% through early trading on Friday, January 7, 2022. Over the past three months, Absci Corporation has seen average daily volume of 253,700 shares. However, volume of 30.93 million shares or dollar volume of around $253.94 million, has already exchanged hands through early trading on Friday.
Shares of Absci Corporation are gaining Friday, after the company announced that it has entered into a research collaboration agreement with Merck (NYSE: MRK). The two firms will work to actively leverage Absci’s deep learning, AI-powered drug creation and Bionic Protein technologies.
Under the terms of the collaboration, Absci will utilize its Bionic Protein (non-standard amino acid technology) to produce enzymes that will be tailored to Merck’s biomanufacturing applications. Merck does have the option to nominate as many as three targets and enter into a drug discovery collaboration agreement, which would allow Absci to receive as much as $610 million in upfront fees and milestone payments.
Sean McClain, founder and CEO of Absci, commented, “We are very pleased to establish this collaboration with Merck and to be working with its world class research organization to generate novel enzymes. We look forward to applying our AI-driven platform to create new biologic candidates with the potential to meaningfully improve the lives of patients.”
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