Clinical-stage biotechnology company Alchemab Therapeutics announced a £25 million (approximately $34 million) extension to its Series A financing from the British Business Bank. The investment marks the largest life sciences investment made by the British Business Bank to date and increases Alchemab’s total Series A funding to £109 million.
The new capital will support the expansion of Alchemab’s clinical pipeline and grow its proprietary antibody database from 500 million to more than one billion antibody sequences. The company uses its AI-powered Resiliome™ platform to identify naturally occurring protective antibodies found in people who have unusual resilience to difficult-to-treat diseases, enabling the discovery of first-in-class antibody therapies.
The funding builds on the progress of Alchemab’s lead candidate, ATLX-1282, an antibody therapy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The asset is currently in clinical development after being licensed to Eli Lilly, providing validation of the company’s AI-driven drug discovery platform.
With the additional financing, Alchemab plans to accelerate the development of new antibody candidates into clinical trials while further strengthening its proprietary dataset, which serves as the foundation for its AI-based discovery engine.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are delighted that British Business Bank has recognised the importance of enabling Alchemab to grow and thrive here in the UK. This investment provides further validation of the sustainable, long-term potential of our drug discovery platform and will enable us to further accelerate our pipeline of first-in-class antibody therapeutics for conditions with significant unmet need.”
Dr. Jane Osbourn, CEO and Co-Founder of Alchemab
“The UK life sciences sector has the expertise, creativity and commercial potential to build globally significant biotech companies, and Alchemab is determined to be one of them. This investment by the British Business Bank demonstrates the importance of providing capital to allow innovative biotechs to scale here, and we are proud to be building the company’s future in the UK.”
Dame Kate Bingham, Managing Partner at SV Health Investors and Chair of Alchemab’s Board of Directors
“Alchemab sits at the cutting edge of UK scientific capability, integrating deep sequencing and lab-based validation to harness the body’s natural defences against disease. This landmark £25m investment demonstrates our commitment to providing the long-term capital necessary for the UK’s most innovative biotech firms to advance complex pipelines in the UK.”
Charlotte Lawrence, Managing Director of Direct Equity at British Business Bank
“Alchemab is yet another example of the UK’s strength in leveraging technology in life sciences. By combining one of the world’s largest proprietary antibody datasets with advanced AI, the company has developed a powerful platform with the potential to unlock new treatments. Our investment will help convert promising results into high value medical discoveries.”
Dr. Carmine Circelli, Senior Investment Director, Life Sciences at British Business Bank
