Eli Lilly & Co.

Bengaluru: Drugmaker Eli Lilly said on Tuesday it is launching an artificial intelligence and machine learning platform that provides biotech companies access to drug discovery models trained on years of its research data. Drug developers are increasing adoption of AI technologies for discovery and safety testing to get faster and cheaper results, in line with an FDA push to reduce animal testing in the near future. Lilly's platform, TuneLab , consists of AI models which include proprietary data obtained at a cost of over $1 billion. "Lilly TuneLab was created to be an equalizer so that smaller companies can access some of the same AI capabilities used every day by Lilly scientists," said chief scientific officer Daniel Skovronsky. Privately held companies Circle Pharma and insitro said they are partnering with Lilly to develop cancer therapies and small molecule drugs, respectively. (Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair and Krishna Chandra Eluri)

- Follows successful completion of pre-clinical activities by Alchemab as part of earlier licensing deal with Eli Lilly and Company for ATLX-1282 - Financing included participation from Eli Lilly and Company and Ono Venture Investment alongside significant support from world-class existing investors CAMBRIDGE, England, Sept. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Alchemab Therapeutics (Alchemab), a biopharmaceutical company which identifies and develops naturally occurring therapeutic antibodies from resilient individuals, today announced initiation of a Phase 1 first-in-human study of ATLX-1282. ATLX-1282 was licensed to Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) in May 2025 as part of an exclusive global licensing agreement, which included a milestone payment to Alchemab following the initiation of the Phase 1 first-in-human study. Alchemab will conduct the first-in-human study for ATLX-1282 and Lilly will lead further development and commercialisation of the therapy. The Company also announced a $32 million Series A extension financing, bringing the Company's total Series A investment to date to $114 million. The round included participation from Ono Venture Investment (OVI) alongside a blue-chip syndicate of existing specialist investors which includes RA Capital, SV Health Investors, DCVC Bio and Lightstone Ventures and strategic investment by Lilly. Alchemab's proprietary, AI-enabled platform is transforming drug discovery by identifying protective auto-antibodies and novel targets from individuals that are naturally resilient to various diseases. The platform operates like a search engine for the immune system, leveraging advanced machine learning models and proprietary data to interrogate the largest database of patient-derived antibodies, known as the DataCube, comprising over 6,000 highly curated patient samples from more than 30 global collaborators across metabolic, immune and neurological conditions. The additional capital will enable Alchemab to advance ATLX-2847, a wholly-owned program for muscle atrophy derived from the platform, into clinical development. ATLX-2847 is a first-in-class program targeting the prostaglandin pathway. The financing will also support Alchemab to advance highly novel earlier programs for immune and neurological conditions towards clinic, and further expand its AI-enabled, disease resilience-led platform. This financing follows a separate research collaboration with Lilly announced in January 2025 for the discovery, development and commercialisation of up to five novel therapeutic candidates for neurodegenerative disease. "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," said Kate Bingham, Alchemab Chair and SV Health Investors Managing Partner. "We're extremely pleased to welcome new investors who share our commitment to novel drug discovery and development approaches and are proud to support Alchemab's continued progress." Jane Osbourn, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, 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." Mike Hutton, Senior Vice President, Genetic Medicines and Neurodegeneration at Lilly, commented: "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." About Alchemab Alchemab studies the natural antibody responses of individuals who are highly resilient to disease and identifies antibodies uniquely shared in the resilient groups and not seen in disease progressors. The targets to these antibodies are then identified and the antibodies developed into therapies for hard-to-treat diseases which do not have disease modifying approaches. Alchemab's platform integrates data mining and machine learning models of patient-derived immune responses with in vitro and in vivo drug discovery approaches to understand what keeps people well. The goal is to unlock nature's immunological response to disease and harness our highly evolved human immune system to find breakthrough drugs. Alchemab was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in London, UK with labs in Cambridge, UK. For more information, visit . SOURCE Alchemab Therapeutics WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM? 440k+ Newsrooms & Influencers 9k+ Digital Media Outlets 270k+ Journalists Opted In GET STARTED

Alchemab Therapeutics has brought its first programme — built with its AI-enabled platform  to find antibodies in "naturally resilient" individuals — into the clinic. The study start triggers a milestone payment from Eli Lilly, who in-licensed ATLX-1282 just four months ago in a deal worth up to $415 million. The biotech is responsible for the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) candidate's development through Phase I testing, after which Lilly will be in charge of further development and commercialisation.Alchemab also leveraged its clinical momentum to raise a $32-million series A extension on Tuesday, adding to its initial $82-million round in 2021 to bring the total to $114 million. Lilly provided a strategic investment in the financing, which was backed by Ono Venture Investment alongside existing investors RA Capital, SV Health Investors, DCVC Bio and Lightstone Ventures. With the fresh funding, the company is planning to start another study — a Phase I trial for ATLX-2847, a wholly-owned programme for muscle atrophy that targets the prostaglandin pathway. Alchemab will also use the financing to advance its preclinical portfolio for immune and neurological conditions, and build out its AI platform.  "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," co-founder and CEO Jane Osbourn said in a company release. "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."Alchemab has compiled a database of patient-derived antibodies, called the DataCube, that contains over 6000 patient samples across metabolic, immune and neurological conditions. In particular, it's interested in unique antibodies that are not found in people with fast-progressing diseases. The company said it then uses machine learning models to interrogate that data, "like a search engine for the immune system." Alchemab and Lilly first teamed up in January, when the former agreed to develop up to five novel antibody therapeutics for ALS; financial details were not disclosed. In June, the pharma licensed ATLX-1282 in a separate deal.