CAMBRIDGE, UK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Clinical-stage biotechnology Arkemab Therapeutics has extended its Series A funding with a £25 million (US$34 million) investment from British Business Bank. This is the bank’s largest investment to date in a life sciences company. This funding will enable the company to build its clinical pipeline and expand its unique proprietary antibody dataset to over 1 billion sequences.
Alchemab discovers and develops first-in-class medicines through its Resiliome™ platform. The platform uses complex AI-derived algorithms to identify natural antibodies present in humans that are unusually resilient to a variety of difficult-to-treat diseases.
This investment builds on the success of the company’s first asset, ATLX-1282. ATLX-1282 is a first-in-class antibody therapeutic in clinical development for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that was licensed to Eli Lilly and provided strong validation of the potential of the Resiliome approach.
This additional funding brings Alchemab’s total Series A investment to date to £109m. This will allow the company to expand its antibody database from 500 million to 1 billion antibody sequences and advance additional candidates into clinical development.
Dr Jane Osborne, CEO and co-founder of Alkemab, said: “We are delighted that the British Business Bank has recognized the importance of enabling Alkemab to grow and prosper here in the UK. This investment further validates the sustainable, long-term potential of our drug discovery platform and enables us to further accelerate our pipeline of first-in-class antibody treatments for conditions with significant unmet need.”
Dame Kate Bingham, Managing Partner of SV Health Investors and Chair of the Arkemab Board, said: “The UK life sciences sector has the expertise, creativity and commercial potential to build globally significant biotechnology companies, and we are excited to be working with the UK to build biotech companies of global significance. We are determined that Lukemab will be one of them. This investment by British Business Bank shows the importance of providing capital to enable innovative biotechs to scale up here, and we are proud to be building the company’s future in the UK.”
Charlotte Lawrence, managing director of direct equity at British Business Bank, said: “Arkemab is at the cutting edge of UK scientific power, integrating deep sequencing and laboratory-based validation to harness the body’s natural defenses against disease. This ground-breaking £25 million investment demonstrates our commitment to providing the UK’s most innovative biotech companies with the long-term funding they need to drive their complex pipelines in the UK.”
Dr Carmine Cercelli, Senior Investment Director, Life Sciences at British Business Bank, said: “Arkemab is another example of the UK’s strength in leveraging technology in life sciences. By combining one of the world’s largest unique antibody datasets with advanced AI, the company has developed a powerful platform with the potential for new treatments. Our investment will help turn promising results into high-value medical discoveries.”
About Arkemab Therapeutics
Founded in 2019, Alchemab is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that discovers protective antibodies in disease-resistant individuals and discovers and develops new treatments. The company’s Resiliome™ platform combines the world’s largest fully human antibody database derived from disease-resistant individuals with advanced AI and laboratory validation to identify and characterize antibodies that protect individuals. Alchemab, a pioneer in this approach, has generated an extensive pipeline of first and class assets for difficult-to-treat diseases. Alchemab’s current investors include SV Health Investors and Dementia Discovery Fund, RA Capital, DCVC Bio, Eli Lilly, Lightstone Ventures, Ono Venture Investment, and Camford Partners.
Learn more here alchemab.com.
About British Business Bank
British Business Bank is the UK Government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to drive economic growth by helping small and medium-sized businesses get the funding they need to start, expand and stay in the UK. In doing so, we capture the economic value of innovation for the UK and help create jobs and prosperity for people across the UK.
British Business Bank’s core programs support £23 billion of lending to around 64,000 small and medium-sized businesses. (The figures are as of the end of March 2025 and do not include start-up loans.)
British Business Bank plc is a public limited company registered in England and Wales. Registration number 08616013, registered office is Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ. It is a development bank wholly owned by the UK government. British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. Other than BBB Investment Services Limited, they are not authorized or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority or the Financial Conduct Authority. BBB Investment Services Limited is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The Group’s full legal structure can be found at british-business-bank.co.uk.
The investments described above are managed by British Patient Capital Limited, a wholly owned commercial subsidiary of British Business Bank plc. British Patient Capital Limited is registered in England and Wales under company number 11271076 and its registered office is at Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ. British Patient Capital makes commitments and investments on behalf of itself and third party investors whose investments are managed by British Patient Capital.
The above transaction does not constitute or imply any approval, endorsement or recommendation by the UK Government, British Business Bank plc, its subsidiaries or any other party with respect to Alchemab Therapeutics or its products or services.
contact address
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