OmniAb Advances Antibody Discovery Partnership with ArrowMark and Viking-Backed Biotech Incubator

The landscape of antibody discovery is shifting as established biotech platforms forge deeper collaborations with investment-backed ventures. OmniAb (NASDAQ: OABI) has signed a technology licensing and services agreement with Mabtrx Biosciences, a subsidiary of AMVKG LS—a joint venture formed by Denver-based investment firm ArrowMark Partners and global asset manager Viking Global Investors. The arrangement demonstrates how next-generation drug discovery platforms are expanding their revenue streams beyond traditional pharmaceutical partnerships.

Deal Structure and Financial Framework

Under the agreement, OmniAb will generate revenue through discovery services for antibody candidates targeting disease areas identified by Mabtrx. Beyond near-term service fees, OmniAb stands to gain equity stakes and royalty participation tied to the commercial success of developed therapeutics. This tiered compensation model reflects the risk-sharing philosophy increasingly common in biotech licensing deals, aligning incentives across the discovery, development, and commercialization phases.

Mabtrx itself represents a new vehicle for applying OmniAb’s proprietary platform technologies within a venture context. By structuring the collaboration through a wholly owned subsidiary, the JV partners gain flexibility in managing intellectual property while maintaining focus on specific therapeutic programs.

The Technology at the Core

OmniAb’s competitive advantage rests on its Biological Intelligence platform, powered by engineered transgenic animals designed to generate exceptionally diverse antibody libraries. The company’s single domain antibody technology—branded as OmnidAb—enables rapid identification of fully human antibodies optimized for therapeutic development. This capability emerges from a combination of proprietary immunization protocols, high-throughput single B-cell screening, and computational analysis of next-generation sequencing datasets.

The platform’s utility extends across multiple discovery modalities, from custom antigen design to bespoke antibody candidate identification. Partners gain access to integrated end-to-end solutions or highly tailored service packages, addressing the industry’s persistent challenge of identifying developable antibody leads with superior performance characteristics.

Strategic Players and Investment Appetite

ArrowMark Partners, founded in 2007 and based in Denver, operates as an employee-owned investment manager focused on niche market segments in credit, equity, and real estate. The firm has built a track record in biotech and life sciences investments, combining fundamental research with value creation strategies. Tony Yao, M.D., Ph.D., serving as Life Science Portfolio Manager, noted the firm’s confidence in addressing next-generation drug targets through OmniAb’s technology suite.

Viking Global Investors manages over $55 billion in assets and maintains a 25-year history since its 1999 founding. Operating across public and private investments from offices in Stamford, New York, Hong Kong, London, and San Francisco, Viking brings substantial capital and operational resources to biotech venture creation. The partnership between ArrowMark and Viking through AMVKG LS represents a pooling of both investment expertise and scientific judgment.

Revenue Models in Modern Biotech Licensing

OmniAb’s business structure illustrates the evolving economics of biotech discovery platforms. Rather than relying solely on upfront licensing fees, the company structures partnerships around multiple value recognition points: initial access or upfront fees establish commitment, ongoing service revenue funds operations, milestone achievements provide inflection points, and downstream royalties or revenue sharing capture commercial success. This framework aligns financial outcomes with scientific outcomes, reducing the risk of misaligned incentives common in traditional licensing arrangements.

The Mabtrx agreement further signals investor appetite for antibody-focused therapeutics and confidence in platform-based discovery approaches versus single-target drug development. ArrowMark and Viking’s involvement suggests institutional conviction that OmniAb’s transgenic animal systems represent a defensible, differentiated technology suitable for creating multiple independent biotech companies.

Looking Forward

CEO Matt Foehr emphasized the collaboration as validation of OmniAb’s versatile technology strategy. The Mabtrx partnership exemplifies how transgenic chicken-based platforms can generate value across multiple time horizons and therapeutic modalities. The agreement also establishes a template for potential future collaborations, with OmniAb and the JV partners suggesting additional NewCo drug discovery efforts may follow.

Such arrangements underscore a broader industry trend: specialized discovery platforms are increasingly central to biotech innovation, attracting significant investor capital and serving as nuclei around which venture-backed companies are formed. OmniAb’s position in this ecosystem reflects both its technological differentiation and the market’s recognition that systematic, platform-driven antibody discovery outperforms traditional approaches.