IonQ and CCRM Announce Strategic Quantum-Biotech Collaboration to Accelerate Development of Advanced Therapeutics

COLLEGE PARK, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 1, 2025--

IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), the world’s leading quantum company, today announced an investment partnership with the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) to accelerate next-generation therapeutic development using hybrid quantum and quantum-AI technologies. The partnership includes an investment commitment into CCRM’s new quantum-biotech initiatives and establishes IonQ as the core technology partner across CCRM’s global network of advanced therapy hubs.

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With more than 100,000 square feet of good manufacturing practice (GMP) facilities, 300+ scientific staff and a global network of academic and industry partners, CCRM is one of the world’s leading accelerators for advanced therapies. CCRM was established in 2011 in Toronto, Canada, to realize the promise of regenerative medicine and deliver durable treatments, and even cures, for the world’s most debilitating chronic diseases. CCRM’s extensive global network of academic researchers, industry partners, and investors will work closely with IonQ to revolutionize medicine and provide unmatched computational advantages to its members.

“IonQ’s quantum technologies are poised to reshape industries, and health care is one of the most exciting frontiers,” states Niccolo de Masi, Chairman and CEO of IonQ. “Together with CCRM and its global partners, we will identify, test, and deploy breakthrough applications that will transform therapeutic development, biomanufacturing, and delivery for patients across the globe.”

This collaboration will initially focus on areas including bioprocess optimization, disease-modeling workflows, and quantum enhanced simulation to support the design and manufacturing of advanced therapies. By bringing together CCRM’s expertise in next-generation therapeutic innovation and IonQ’s unparalleled leadership in cutting-edge quantum technologies, the partnership aims to address some of the most pressing challenges in health care and life sciences. Initial projects will be launched in both Canada and Sweden in 2026.

“By combining our strengths,” says Michael May, President and CEO of CCRM, “we are uniquely positioned to unlock solutions that were previously beyond reach. Just as CCRM focused on biomanufacturing 15 years ago, this frontier-of-science collaboration will help accelerate the discovery and application of advanced therapies, with the potential to make a real difference for patients worldwide. We are very excited by this opportunity and collaboration with IonQ.”

“Like Canada, Sweden has identified advanced therapies and quantum computing as areas of high priority for development and commercialization,” says Fredrik Wessberg, CEO of CCRM Nordic. “This partnership will help demonstrate the value of the CCRM network of hubs, and the need for global collaboration to deliver complex health care modalities to patients globally.”

Today’s announcement builds on IonQ’s recent collaboration with AstraZeneca to establish a new quantum application development center in Sweden within AstraZeneca’s BioVenture Hub. Earlier this year IonQ announced that with the acquisition of Oxford Ionics it would expand R&D and quantum engineering teams in Oxford. IonQ also established a long-term partnership with Einride in Stockholm, Sweden in April 2025. In 2024, IonQ established its first European Innovation Center at QuantumBasel in Switzerland, and the company completed its acquisition of Switzerland-based IDQ.

About IonQ

IonQ, Inc. [NYSE: IONQ] is the world’s leading quantum company delivering solutions to solve the world’s most complex problems. IonQ’s newest generation of quantum computers, IonQ Forte and IonQ Forte Enterprise, are the latest in a line of cutting-edge systems that have been helping customers and partners such as Amazon Web Services, AstraZeneca, and NVIDIA achieve 20x performance results. The company achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, setting a world record in quantum computing performance in 2025.

The company is accelerating its technology roadmap and intends to deliver the world’s most powerful quantum computers with 2 million qubits by 2030 to accelerate innovation in drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, logistics, cybersecurity, and defense. IonQ’s advancements in quantum networking also position the company as a leader in building the quantum internet.

IonQ has operations in Maryland, Washington, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Tennessee, United Kingdom, Toronto, South Korea, Sweden, and Switzerland. The company’s innovative technology and rapid growth were recognized in Fortune Future 50, Newsweek’s 2025 Excellence Index 1000, and Forbes’ 2025 Most Successful Mid-Cap Companies list. Available through all major cloud providers, IonQ is making quantum more accessible and impactful than ever before. Learn more at IonQ.com.

IonQ’s Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our expectations regarding the closing of various acquisitions and their impact on our business. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “pending,” “look forward,” “accelerate,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “suggest,” “plan,” “believe,” “intend,” “estimate,” “target,” “project,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “may,” “will,” “forecast,” “confident” and other similar expressions. These statements are only predictions based on our expectations and projections about future events as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may prove incorrect, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including, among others, those described under the heading “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2025, June 30, 2025 and September 30, 2025 filed with the SEC. New risks emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for our management to predict all risks, nor can management assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement we make. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Except as otherwise required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

IonQ serves as strategic quantum technology partner across CCRM’s leading global regenerative medicine network.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV celebrated his first Easter Mass as pontiff with a call Sunday to lay down arms and seek peace to global conflicts through dialogue, but he departed from a tradition of listing the world's woes by name in the Urbi et Orbi blessing from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Leo, the first U.S.-born pope, emphasized Easter’s message of hope as a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection after being crucified, in both the blessing and his homily.

“Let us allow our hearts to be transformed by his immense love for us! Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!” the pope implored.

With the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran in its second month and Russia’s ongoing campaign in Ukraine, Leo acknowledged a sense of indifference “to the deaths of thousands of people ... to the repercussions of hatred and division that conflicts sow … to the economic and social consequences they produce.’’

Without mentioning the wars by name, Leo quoted his predecessor, Pope Francis, who during his last public appearance from the same loggia last Easter reminded the faithful of the “great thirst for death, for killing, we witness each day.’’

Francis, weakened by a long illness, died the next day on Easter Monday.

The Urbi et Orbi blessing, Latin for “to the city and the world,’’ has traditionally included a litany of the world’s woes. Leo followed that formula during his Christmas blessing. There was no immediate explanation for the shift.

Earlier, Leo addressed some 50,000 faithful from an open-air altar in St. Peter’s Square flanked with white roses, while the steps leading down to the piazza where the faithful gathered were filled with spring perennials, symbolically resonating with the pope’s words.

He implored the faithful to keep their hope in the face of death, which lurks "in the abuses that crush the weakest among us, because the idolatry of profit that plunders the earth’s resources, because of the violence of war that kills and destroys.’’

Speaking from the loggia, the pope announced a prayer vigil for peace April 11 in the basilica.

“On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination, and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars and marked by a hatred and indifference that makes us feel powerless in the face of evil,’’ he said.

Leo greeted the global faithful in 10 languages, including Arabic, Chinese and Latin, reviving a practice that his predecessor Pope Francis had let lapse.

Before retreating into the basilica, Leo stepped forward out of the loggia’s shadow and waved to the cheering crowd below. After, he greeted people in the piazza from the popemobile, continuing his tour all the way down Via della Conciliazione toward the Tiber River and back.

During the marathon that is Holy Week, Leo also reclaimed the tradition of washing priests’ feet on Holy Thursday, a gesture of encouragement toward clergy, after Francis had chosen a more inclusive path, traveling to prisons and homes for the disabled to wash the feet of women, non-Christians and prisoners.

The 70-year-old pontiff also became the first pope in decades to carry the light wooden cross for the entire 14 stations during the Way of the Cross on Good Friday.

Traditional ceremonies at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered by Christians as the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, were scaled back under an agreement with Israeli police. Authorities have put limits on the sizes of public gatherings due to ongoing missile attacks.

The restrictions also dampened the recent Muslim holy month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr holiday, as well as the current weeklong Jewish festival of Passover. On Sunday, the Jewish priestly blessing at the Western Wall — normally attended by tens of thousands — was limited to just 50 people.

The restrictions have strained relations between Israeli authorities and Christian leaders. Police last week prevented two of the church’s top religious leaders, including Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, from celebrating Palm Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

On Tuesday, the pope had expressed hope that the war could be finished before Easter.

Barry reported from Milan. Associated Press writer Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful at the end of Easter Mass he presided over in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV addresses the faithful after delivering the Urbi et Orbi blessing - Latin for "to the city of Rome and to the world" - from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica at the end of Easter Mass he presided over in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV delivers the Urbi et Orbi blessing - Latin for "to the city of Rome and to the world" - from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica at the end of Easter Mass he presided over in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV addresses the faithful after delivering the Urbi et Orbi blessing - Latin for "to the city of Rome and to the world" - from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica at the end of Easter Mass he presided over in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV presides over Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026 (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Clergy follow Pope Leo XIV as he presides over Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV presides over Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026 (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV arrives to preside over Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026 (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV sprinkles holy water with a bunch of hyssop sprigs as he presides over Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)