Alchemab Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company that develops naturally occurring therapeutic antibodies from resilient individuals, has announced the initiation of its first-in-human phase 1 study of ATLX-1282. The candidate, licensed to Eli Lilly and Company in May 2025 under an exclusive global licensing agreement, triggered a milestone payment to Alchemab following the start of the trial. While Alchemab will oversee the early-stage study, Lilly will lead further development and commercialisation of the therapy.

Alongside this milestone, Alchemab has raised an additional 32 million USD through a Series A extension, bringing its total Series A investment to 114 million USD. The financing round attracted new participation from Ono Venture Investment, joining an existing syndicate of specialist investors including RA Capital, SV Health Investors, DCVC Bio and Lightstone Ventures, as well as strategic investment from Lilly.

Alchemab’s proprietary AI-enabled platform is designed to identify protective auto-antibodies and novel targets from individuals naturally resilient to disease. Functioning like a “search engine for the immune system”, the platform applies advanced machine learning to its DataCube—one of the largest collections of patient-derived antibodies globally, encompassing over 6,000 curated samples from more than 30 collaborators across metabolic, immune and neurological conditions.

The new funding will support the advancement of ATLX-2847, a wholly owned muscle atrophy programme derived from the platform, into clinical trials. ATLX-2847, a first-in-class candidate targeting the prostaglandin pathway, is one of several novel immune and neurological programmes that Alchemab aims to progress into the clinic. The capital will also help expand the company’s AI-led resilience-based drug discovery approach.

This financing follows a separate research collaboration with Lilly, announced in January 2025, focused on discovering and developing up to five therapeutic candidates for neurodegenerative diseases.

Kate Bingham, Alchemab Chair and Managing Partner at SV Health Investors, said: “Closing this financing and initiating clinical development marks an important year for Alchemab and validates the company’s novel platform to identify protective auto-antibodies.”

Jane Osbourn, co-founder and chief executive officer of Alchemab, added: “Taking our first candidate into the clinic represents a major milestone for the company. Together with Lilly, we aim to bring this potentially transformative therapy to patients as swiftly as possible.”

Mike Hutton, senior vice president for genetic medicines and neurodegeneration at Lilly, commented: “We are encouraged by the progress of this candidate and look forward to assessing its performance in the clinic as part of our ongoing collaboration with Alchemab.”

Alchemab continues to study the unique natural antibody responses of resilient individuals, using its findings to identify therapies capable of tackling some of the most challenging diseases.