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London-based Alchemab Therapeutics is a biotechnology company that discovers and develops novel therapeutic antibodies by analyzing the immune repertoires of individuals who are naturally resilient to severe diseases. The firm utilizes machine learning and computational biology to identify protective antibodies in millions of patient samples, focusing primarily on treatments for hard-to-treat neurodegenerative conditions like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia. To scale its operations, the company has raised $82 million in Series A funding and secured a $1.5 million research grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation to advance its preclinical and clinical pipeline. Alchemab is backed by venture capital firms including SV Health Investors, DCVC Bio, and RA Capital, and has established a $415 million licensing agreement with pharmaceutical partner Eli Lilly. The enterprise was founded in 2019 by Jane Osbourn and Rachael Bashford-Rogers.
Alchemab Therapeutics has raised $115.6M across 3 funding rounds.
Alchemab Therapeutics has raised $115.6M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Alchemab Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company developing a differentiated antibody discovery platform that reverse-engineers protective immune responses from resilient patients to create novel therapeutics for hard-to-treat diseases, initially targeting neurodegenerative conditions like ALS and oncology.[1][2][3] The platform analyzes patient antibody repertoires using deep B cell sequencing, computational analysis, and machine learning to identify convergent antibodies unique to disease-resilient individuals, enabling both novel targets and therapies in one process.[1][2] Headquartered in London with labs in Cambridge, UK, Alchemab has raised over $80 million from investors including SV Health Investors, DCVC Bio, Dementia Discovery Fund, RA Capital, Lightstone Ventures, and Camford Capital, fueling a broad pipeline and recent collaborations like one with Lilly for up to five ALS antibodies.[2][4]
The company serves patients with unmet needs in areas lacking disease-modifying treatments, solving the challenge of identifying effective antibodies by harnessing natural adaptive immunity—described as "nature’s most effective search engine"—from cohorts like long-term cancer survivors or slow-progressing ALS cases.[2][3] Growth momentum includes platform validations through partnerships with patient groups, biobanks, academics, and industry, plus access to supercomputing resources like NVIDIA's Cambridge-1.[5]
Alchemab Therapeutics was incorporated on August 14, 2019, as a private limited company focused on biotechnology research and experimental development (SIC code 72110).[4] Founded with seed funding from SV Health Investors, DCVC Bio, and the Dementia Discovery Fund, it quickly scaled, raising over $80 million from a syndicate of specialist life sciences investors.[2] The idea emerged from insights into natural antibody responses in resilient individuals, led by CEO Jane Osbourn, OBE, FMedSci, PhD, who brings deep expertise from her role as Vice President of R&D at MedImmune (AstraZeneca's biologics arm), where she advanced antibody phage display technology and contributed to approved therapies like HUMIRA® (adalimumab) and IMFINZI® (durvalumab).[1]
Early traction included establishing operations across London, Cambridge (UK), and U.S. sites like Waltham and Boston, with pivotal moments such as platform publications (e.g., AntiBERTa neural network in 2022), supercomputing selections by NVIDIA, and extensions of UK collaborations like Medicines Discovery Catapult.[5] Leadership transitions, like Young T. Kwon succeeding as interim CEO in 2022, underscored operational maturation amid rapid pipeline buildout.[5]
Alchemab stands out in antibody discovery through these key strengths:
Alchemab rides the wave of precision immunology and AI-driven drug discovery, leveraging advances in deep learning, single-cell sequencing, and supercomputing to decode human immune resilience amid surging demand for biologics in neurodegeneration and oncology—markets projected to exceed hundreds of billions due to aging populations and immunotherapy breakthroughs.[2][3][5] Timing is ideal post-2020s AI boom in biotech (e.g., AlphaFold impacts), enabling faster repertoire analysis where traditional screens fail for "undruggable" diseases like ALS, which lacks modifiers despite 30,000+ U.S. cases annually.[2]
Market forces favoring Alchemab include Big Pharma's push for differentiated antibodies (e.g., Lilly deal), UK biotech hubs' funding ecosystem, and patient-centric data access, positioning it to influence stratification tools and resilient-patient paradigms—potentially reshaping clinical trials by identifying responders via immune signatures.[1][2][5]
Alchemab is primed to advance its pipeline with near-term milestones like ALS candidates from the Lilly collaboration and expansions into oncology/neurodegeneration, bolstered by its $80M war chest and platform validations.[2] Trends like AI-biotech convergence, multimodal data integration, and resilience-based trials will accelerate its trajectory, potentially yielding first-in-class therapies by late 2020s. Its influence may evolve from discovery innovator to ecosystem shaper via more pharma alliances and tools for patient selection, ultimately fulfilling its mission to harness adaptive immunity against hard-to-treat diseases—transforming patient resilience into scalable cures.[1][2][3]
Alchemab Therapeutics has raised $115.6M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $32.0M Series A in September 2025.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2025 | $32M Series A | — | SV Health Investors, DCVC BIO, Mike Hutton, Lightstone Ventures, ONO Venture Investment, RA Capital Management, Kate Bingham | Announced |
| Jun 6, 2024 | $600K Grant | MS. Sohini Chowdhury | — | Announced |
| Apr 1, 2021 | $83M Series A | Andrew Levin | Soffinova Partners, SV Health Investors, Danhua Capital, Data Collective, Dementia Discovery Fund, Lightstone Ventures, Houman Ashrafian | Announced |
Alchemab Therapeutics has raised $115.6M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Alchemab Therapeutics's investors include SV Health Investors, DCVC Bio, Mike Hutton, Lightstone Ventures, Ono Venture Investment, RA Capital Management, Kate Bingham, Ms. Sohini Chowdhury, Andrew Levin, Soffinova Partners, Danhua Capital, Data Collective.