Launch of OmniUltra Expands OmniAb's Reach into New Markets and Applications, Advances Leadership in Antibody Discovery Technologies
First and only transgenic chicken platform engineered to express ultralong CDRH3 domains on a human antibody framework broadens therapeutic opportunities beyond conventional antibodies
OmniUltra Virtual Investor Event begins at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time today
OmniAb, Inc. (NASDAQ:OABI) announces the launch of its new OmniUltra™ platform, the industry's first and only transgenic chicken engineered to express ultralong CDRH3 domains on a human antibody framework, at the 2025 Antibody Engineering & Therapeutics (AET) Conference underway in San Diego.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251215018419/en/
OmniUltra is a versatile in vivo discovery platform that extends beyond traditional antibody modalities into the peptide space, enabling multiple therapeutic applications. It generates naturally optimized human immune antibody repertoires featuring cow-inspired ultralong CDRH3 domains, unlocking novel binding modes and access to challenging targets. OmniUltra also enables the isolation of picobodies™, the smallest known natural antibody-derived binding domain (4–6 kDa), which are approximately one-third the size of a nanobody®. OmniUltra is designed to deliver pre-optimized specificity, affinity, and structural stability, streamlining hit-to-lead identification. By generating both antibodies and picobodies, it is ideal for applications such as bispecifics, multispecifics, CAR-T, radioligands and stand-alone peptide therapeutics.
"We are incredibly proud and excited to launch OmniUltra, our newest transgenic chicken platform and a pioneering advancement in antibody and peptide discovery. Building upon our unrivaled expertise in utilizing chicken hosts to develop novel antibodies, OmniUltra allows us to produce cow-inspired ultralong CDRH3s for partners to generate highly unique antibodies and novel peptide therapeutics," said Matt Foehr, Chief Executive Officer of OmniAb. "This technology opens unprecedented opportunities for OmniAb, expanding our reach into new markets and applications while reinforcing our leadership in next-generation drug discovery innovation. The rigorous validation work we've completed demonstrates the broad applicability of OmniUltra, positioning us for a highly impactful launch with strong industry engagement, which already has begun with several of our partners."
The OmniUltra launch to industry leaders and prospective customers attending AET features two podium presentations, including one delivered earlier today titled "OmniUltra: A New in vivo Platform for Discovery of Novel Mini-Proteins and Structured Peptides." The Company will be highlighting the OmniUltra platform in a second presentation titled "OmniUltra: Leveraging Evolutionary distance for the Discovery of Ultralong CDRH3 Antibodies with Broad Epitope Coverage" on December 16th at 12:35 p.m. Pacific time.
In addition, OmniAb will have two poster presentations at AET, titled "Empowering the efficient discovery of ultralong CDRH3 antibodies with high-throughput xPloration® workflows" and "Development of OmniUltra: A transgenic chicken platform for the generation of ultralong CDRH3 antibodies, mini-proteins and structured peptides for human therapeutics."
The AET presentation slides and posters are available here.
"Therapeutic peptides offer transformative clinical benefits across a broad spectrum of indications, from metabolic disorders to oncology. Their high target selectivity, structural adaptability and potentially low immunogenicity provide unique advantages over conventional small molecules and antibody-based drugs," said Yasmina Abdiche, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Exploratory Research of OmniAb. "OmniUltra's proprietary in vivo platform generates structured peptides on a validated scaffold, inspired by the ultralong CDRH3 architecture found in bovine antibodies. By leveraging the evolutionary distance of the chicken host, we harness the power of its immune system to expand the recognition of human targets. With this technology we can also isolate ultralong CDRH3-derived peptides and chemically synthesize them, unlocking a new paradigm in peptide therapeutic innovation."
OmniAb is showcasing OmniUltra and its entire technology stack at the 2025 Antibody Engineering & Therapeutics Conference at booth #300 at the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina, December 15-18.
For more information about OmniAb's proprietary technologies, please visit www.omniab.com or contact our business development team at bd@omniab.com.
Virtual Investor Event
OmniAb management will host a conference call with accompanying slides today beginning at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time (2:00 p.m. Pacific time) to discuss OmniUltra and answer questions. To participate via telephone, please dial (800) 800-549-8228 using the conference ID 44666. Slides, as well as the live and replay webcast, are available on OmniAb's investor relations website.
About OmniAb
OmniAb licenses cutting-edge discovery research technology to pharmaceutical and biotech companies and academic institutions to enable the discovery of next-generation therapeutics. Our technology platform creates and screens diverse antibody repertoires and is designed to quickly identify optimal antibodies and other target-binding proteins for our partners' drug development efforts. At the heart of the OmniAb platform is what we call Biological Intelligence™, which powers the immune systems of our proprietary, engineered transgenic animals to create optimized antibody candidates for human therapeutics. We believe the OmniAb animals comprise the most diverse host systems available in the industry. Our suite of technologies and methods, including computational antigen design and immunization methods, paired with high-throughput single B-cell phenotypic screening and mining of next-generation sequencing datasets with custom algorithms, is used to identify fully-human antibodies with exceptional performance and developability characteristics. We provide our partners both integrated end-to-end capabilities and highly customizable offerings, which address critical industry challenges and provide optimized discovery solutions. Our business model aligns scientific and economic interests of our partners through structured agreements that generally include upfront/access fees, service revenue, milestones and royalties and/or revenue sharing on commercial sales.
For more information, please visit www.omniab.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
OmniAb cautions you that statements contained in this press release regarding matters that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Words such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "could," "intend," "target," "project," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential" or continue" and similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations and include, but are not limited to: statements regarding the expansion into new markets and applications; the potential value and performance of OmniUltra, including its potential to unlock novel binding modes, provide access to challenging targets, enable isolation of picobodies, streamline hit-to-lead identification, and generate highly unique antibodies and novel peptide therapeutics, and the opportunities OmniUltra may create; the potential for a highly impactful launch and strong industry engagement; the ability to chemically synthesize peptides and unlock a new paradigm in peptide therapeutic innovation; growth prospects of our business; and the ability to add new partners and programs. Actual results may differ from those set forth in this press release due to the risks and uncertainties inherent in our business, including, without limitation: our future success is dependent on acceptance of our technology platform and technologies by new and existing partners, as well as on the eventual development, approval and commercialization of products developed by our partners for which we have no control over the development plan, regulatory strategy or commercialization efforts; biopharmaceutical development is inherently uncertain; risks arising from changes in technology; the competitive environment in the life sciences and biotechnology platform market; our failure to maintain, protect and defend our intellectual property rights; difficulties with performance of third parties we will rely on for our business; government healthcare reform, legislative measures and regulatory developments in the United States and foreign countries; unstable market and economic conditions may have serious adverse consequences on our business, financial condition and stock price; we may use our capital resources sooner than we expect; and other risks described in our prior press releases and filings with the SEC, including under the heading "Risk Factors" in our annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent filings with the SEC. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date hereof. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, which is made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
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OmniAb, Inc.
investors@OmniAb.com
X @OmniAbTech
Alliance Advisors IR
Yvonne Briggs
ybriggs@allianceadvisors.com
(310) 691-7100