Apiary Therapeutics is a Canadian biotech company developing new treatments for diseases using specially engineered immune cells called B cells. These cells can live in the body for many years and are highly effective at producing useful proteins. Apiary creates these B cells in the lab from stem cells and programs them to produce helpful medicines after they are given to a patient. This approach could provide a long-lasting source of treatment rather than frequent dosing. 

The company’s first focus is phenylketonuria or PKU, a lifelong genetic disorder that affects about 1 in 12,000 Canadians and can cause serious brain damage if not well managed. Current treatments are expensive, require daily medications and strict diets and are hard for many patients to follow. Apiary’s therapy could replace daily treatment with a once yearly dose that provides steady levels of the missing enzyme and improve quality of life. 

To make this possible, Apiary, in collaboration with Dr. Peter Zandstra from the University of British Columbia (UBC), is improving how B cells are grown outside the body so they can be safely used in patients. The team will study how these cells develop and use computer models to understand which signals help them grow best. By improving this process, Apiary aims to produce large numbers of high-quality B cells more quickly and at lower cost. This work sets the stage for future human trials and opens the door to new cell-based therapies for diseases that currently have limited options.