Alchemab Therapeutics announced the initiation of a Phase 1 first-in-human study of ATLX-1282 on September 9, 2025, marking a significant milestone for the Cambridge-based biopharmaceutical company's AI-enabled drug discovery platform. The clinical trial launch follows successful completion of pre-clinical activities as part of an exclusive global licensing agreement with Eli Lilly and Company established in May 2025.
Strategic Partnership with Eli Lilly
Under the licensing agreement, Alchemab will conduct the first-in-human study for ATLX-1282, while Lilly will lead further development and commercialization of the therapy. The partnership includes milestone payments to Alchemab, with the Phase 1 initiation triggering one such payment. This collaboration builds on a separate research agreement announced in January 2025 for the discovery, development and commercialization of up to five novel therapeutic candidates for neurodegenerative disease.
"I am excited about the rapid progress we have made with this candidate as part of a joint team effort with Alchemab and look forward to seeing its performance in the clinic," commented Mike Hutton, Senior Vice President, Genetic Medicines and Neurodegeneration at Lilly.
Series A Extension Financing
Concurrent with the clinical trial announcement, Alchemab secured a $32 million Series A extension financing, bringing the company's total Series A investment to $114 million. The round included participation from Ono Venture Investment alongside existing specialist investors including RA Capital, SV Health Investors, DCVC Bio and Lightstone Ventures, with strategic investment from Lilly.
Kate Bingham, Alchemab Chair and SV Health Investors Managing Partner, stated: "As a founding investor in Alchemab, we are thrilled to close this financing and initiate clinical development, which together mark a very successful year for Alchemab and the Company's novel platform to identify protective auto-antibodies."
AI-Enabled Drug Discovery Platform
Alchemab's proprietary platform transforms drug discovery by identifying protective auto-antibodies and novel targets from individuals naturally resilient to various diseases. The platform operates as a search engine for the immune system, leveraging advanced machine learning models and proprietary data to interrogate the DataCube, the largest database of patient-derived antibodies comprising over 6,000 highly curated patient samples from more than 30 global collaborators across metabolic, immune and neurological conditions.
The company studies natural antibody responses of disease-resilient individuals, identifying antibodies uniquely shared in resilient groups but absent in disease progressors. These targets are then developed into therapies for hard-to-treat diseases lacking disease-modifying approaches.
Pipeline Advancement
The additional capital will enable Alchemab to advance ATLX-2847, a wholly-owned program for muscle atrophy, into clinical development. ATLX-2847 represents a first-in-class program targeting the prostaglandin pathway. The financing will also support advancement of earlier programs for immune and neurological conditions toward clinical development and further expansion of the AI-enabled, disease resilience-led platform.
Jane Osbourn, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Alchemab, commented: "Reaching the key milestone of our first drug candidate into the clinic is great validation of Alchemab and our AI enabled next generation antibody platform. Through our collaboration with Lilly, we hope to get this, our first clinical candidate and a potentially transformative therapy, to as many patients as possible, as quickly as possible."
Founded in 2019 and headquartered in London with laboratories in Cambridge, Alchemab aims to unlock nature's immunological response to disease and harness the human immune system to discover breakthrough drugs for conditions currently lacking effective treatments.
