AbCellera (Nasdaq: ABCL) has expanded its collaboration with Eli Lilly to develop antibody medicines for immunology, cardiovascular disease, and neuroscience programs.

More Data For Better MedicineThe more we learn about biology, the more we realize all we do not know. It started with the genomic revolution and the first human genome sequenced in the early 2000s.Genomics has now been joined by other datasets like transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, microbiome, etc. forming a new “multiomics” science. We discussed in further detail this evolution in “ Multiomics Are The Next Step In Biotechnology ”.These new tools have created a flood of data bringing detailed information about the inner activities of cells sometimes down to the atomic level. A key driver of this data growth has been the collapse of price of sequencing gene and other biological materials like proteins.This has created enthusiasm about “Big Data” potential in biotech, mimicking the concept of big data from other, more IT-driven fields.Already in 2018, the magazine Barron’s was asking “ Will Big Data Lead to Big Biotech Returns? ” and the industry started to ask “ Implementing Large-Scale Data Processing and Analysis for Bioprocessing ”Quite a few companies are well-positioned to benefit from the drive to create and analyze at-scale biological data.AI Merging With Big Data?A new development in the last few years has been the emergence of AI. While AI made its way into public consciousness mostly in 2023, with LLMs (Large Language Models) like ChatGPT, the biotech industry started to embrace AI many years before that.And it makes sense because data and AI have a somewhat symbiotic relationship:Training AI models requires a lot of data with high quality and annotations.AIs can help sort out massive datasets without direct human intervention and connect the dots where manual analysis would not be possible.The result is that today, a lot of the previously big data-focused companies in the biotech industry are also turning into AI companies.Contrary to some AI applications still looking for a business model (like image generation), drug discovery and medical research have a pretty straightforward path from AI model to monetization.Top 10 Big Data Biotech StocksIllumina is the leading genomics company, by far the largest and most established in the industry, with $1.2B in revenues, which grew 11% CAGR in the last 5 years.This also makes it the prime provider of genomic data to the entirety of the biotech industry.Like most genome sequencing companies, Illumina makes money when selling sequencers but mostly when selling the consumables used by the sequencers

AbCellera (NASDAQ:ABCL) has inked an agreement with Viking Global Investors and ArrowMark Partners to develop new antibody drug programs, with an initial focus on immunology.