Eli Lilly is adding a new candidate to its pipeline of drugs for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by introducing an antibody currently in clinical trial preparation from British startup Alchemab.
This license agreement expands the existing collaboration announced by the two companies in January of this year, with Alchemab using its AI-powered drug discovery platform to identify promising therapeutic antibodies from samples collected from “resilient” patients, i.e., people with abnormally slow disease progression.
The financial terms of the new agreement include an upfront payment to acquire the rights to Alchemab’s lead candidate drug for ALS, ATLX-1282, as well as milestone payments related to research, development, and commercialization. Alchemab announced that the total transaction value, excluding royalties, is approximately $415 million.
According to the company’s website, “ATLX-1282” targets the receptor “UNC5C” found in motor neurons and is considered a promising therapeutic target not only for ALS but also for other neurodegenerative diseases such as frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
Alchemab has identified antibodies in people who remain healthy into old age despite carrying mutations that would normally cause FTD, using a library of approximately 6,000 patient samples related to neurodegeneration, immunity, cancer, and healthy aging, and Nvidia’s supercomputer in Cambridge.
The company’s scientists identified target molecules from antibody sequences and found evidence of a previously unknown function that protects neurons from degeneration. This initiative is the first project to emerge from Alchemab’s proprietary platform, which analyzes vast antibody sequences from resilient individuals.
Furthermore, under the existing agreement between Lilly and Alchemab, the two companies have established a partnership to jointly discover, develop, and commercialize up to five new treatments for ALS. Meanwhile, Lilly is steadily strengthening its presence in the field of ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases through partnerships with Verge Genomics and QurAlis, the acquisition of Prevail Therapeutics for $1 billion, and an investment in Arkuda Therapeutics.
Jane Osborne, CEO of Alchemab, said of the agreement, “This is a landmark deal for our company. Lilly’s deep expertise in neurological disorders makes them the ideal partner to rapidly advance ATLX-1282 into clinical development and maximize its potential to benefit patients.”
She also noted that this agreement will help advance Alchemab’s internal programs in metabolic diseases, immune disorders, and oncology into the clinical stage. In 2021, the company also began collaborating with AstraZeneca on a cancer immunotherapy project for the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.
Information source
Lilly forges a $415m ALS alliance with UK biotech Alchemab | pharmaphorum
May 9, 2025
Reporter: Tokiko Kawashima, London, UK
