When a drug discovery platform is validated by a top-five pharmaceutical company, the industry takes note. For Berkeley-based Prellis Biologics, that moment arrived in September 2025 with a multi-target collaboration with Eli Lilly, a deal focused on generating fully human antibodies for a slate of diseases, including notoriously difficult GPCR targets [PR Newswire, September 2025]. The partnership is a significant vote of confidence in Prellis's core bet: that 3D-bioprinted lymph node organoids, paired with AI, can replace animal models and slash the time to discover therapeutic antibodies from months to weeks.
Founded in 2016 by Dr. Melanie Matheu, Prellis has spent nearly a decade refining its EXIS™ (Externalized Immune System) platform. The technology uses a specialized form of 3D printing called holographic two-photon photolithography to construct microscopic, functional lymph node organoids. The company claims its bioprinter operates with 100 times the speed and up to 100 times better resolution than extrusion-based competitors, allowing for the rapid fabrication of complex living tissue [Prellis Biologics website]. Within these printed structures, immune cells from human donors interact, mimicking the natural antibody generation process. The resulting antibody candidates are then triaged and refined by the company's proprietary AI system.
The Wedge of Speed and Human Biology
The traditional path for antibody discovery is a slow, expensive, and biologically fraught journey. It often begins with immunizing mice or other animals, a process that can take months and yields antibodies that are not fully human, requiring further engineering. Prellis proposes to cut through this by working entirely in vitro with human cells. The company states its platform can deliver fully human antibody sequences in just three to four weeks [PR Newswire, September 2025]. This speed is the primary wedge, promising to accelerate the earliest, highest-risk phase of therapeutic development. For pharmaceutical partners like Lilly, the appeal is clear: de-risk and shorten the preclinical timeline for a critical class of drugs. The 2022 collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb, focused on antibody therapeutics and target discovery, provided an earlier signal that large biopharma was interested in this approach [Businesswire, January 2022].
Leadership and the Pre-IPO Push
A key transition for the pre-IPO company was the appointment of Mike Nohaile, PhD, as CEO. Nohaile joined from Generate Biomedicines, bringing senior leadership experience from Amgen and Novartis [BioSpace]. Founder Dr. Melanie Matheu remains on the board. This shift to a CEO with deep commercial and development experience in biopharma aligns with the company's stage. With an estimated 51 employees [LeadIQ, May 2025], Prellis is actively hiring in computational and antibody discovery roles, a signal of pipeline buildout. The company is backed by investors including Khosla Ventures, Celesta Capital, and SOSV, though its total funding remains undisclosed.
| Key Leadership | Role | Background Note |
|---|---|---|
| Mike Nohaile, PhD | CEO | Former Generate Biomedicines, Amgen, Novartis [BioSpace] |
| Dr. Melanie Matheu | Founder & Board Member | Founded Prellis Biologics in 2016 [Prellis Biologics website] |
Where the Bet Faces Scrutiny
The ambition is vast, but the path is lined with technical and commercial hurdles that any platform biotech must clear. The field of computational antibody discovery is crowded with well-funded players like Generate Biomedicines and Nabla Bio, who are also leveraging AI but from a purely in silico starting point. Prellis's differentiation is its physical, biological system,a potential strength in generating diverse, functional antibodies, but also a source of complexity and cost. The platform's claims of speed and resolution are impressive, but they originate from the company's own materials; independent, peer-reviewed validation of the organoids' predictive power for clinical outcomes will be crucial for broader adoption. Furthermore, the business model relies on high-value partnerships. While the Lilly deal is a major milestone, scaling requires converting more such collaborations into downstream royalties on drugs that ultimately reach patients, a process measured in years, not quarters.
The Patient Population in Waiting
For patients awaiting new treatments, the standard of care for many autoimmune diseases, cancers, and infectious diseases often involves monoclonal antibodies discovered through older, slower methods. The timeline from target identification to clinical trials can span multiple years. Prellis's platform, and others like it, aims to compress that early discovery phase dramatically. If successful, it could mean a more rapid iteration of therapeutic candidates and a higher likelihood of finding effective, fully human antibodies for targets that have historically been intractable, like GPCRs. The ultimate validation will not be a partnership press release, but an antibody discovered on the EXIS™ platform advancing through clinical trials and demonstrating safety and efficacy where previous approaches have failed.
Sources
- [PR Newswire, September 2025] Prellis Biologics Enters Multi-Target Drug Discovery & Development Collaboration with Lilly | https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/prellis-biologics-enters-multi-target-drug-discovery--development-collaboration-with-lilly-to-advance-human-antibody-therapeutics-302562425.html
- [Prellis Biologics website] EXIS Platform Technology | https://prellisbio.com/technology
- [Businesswire, January 2022] Prellis Biologics Announces Collaboration and License Agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb | https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220113005314/en/Prellis-Biologics-Announces-Collaboration-and-License-Agreement-with-Bristol-Myers-Squibb
- [BioSpace] Prellis Biologics Appoints New CEO, Raises $35 Million in Series C Funding | https://www.biospace.com/prellis-biologics-appoints-new-ceo-raises-35-million-in-series-c-funding-to-use-human-immune-system-biology-to-de-risk-and-accelerate-therapeutics-drug-discovery-and-development
- [LeadIQ, May 2025] Employee headcount data
- [Prellis Biologics website] Founder biography | https://www.prellisbio.com/melanie-matheu