Alchemab, Lilly partner on antibody-based treatments for ALS
Focus is on patients whose disease is progressing slowly
Alchemab Therapeutics has partnered with Eli Lilly to develop new antibody treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) based on an approach that looks at the immune response of those with slower disease progression.
Alchemab will identify, develop, and market up to five new antibody-based candidates. The company said it will receive an upfront payment from Lilly and is eligible for certain milestone payments and royalties on future sales, if these therapies are approved.
“Our collaboration with Lilly enables us to apply our novel approach to a hugely important disease in partnership with one of the most respected names in pharma,” Jane Osbourn, PhD, Alchemab’s CEO, said in a company press release. “We are looking forward to working together to discover and develop novel targets and therapies for ALS patients.”
ALS is a disease that damages motor neurons, the nerve cells involved in voluntary movement, causing muscle weakness. Despite decades of research, there is no cure, and available treatment options only modestly slow disease progression.
Alchemab, a U.K.-based company, has been looking for naturally occurring antibodies that may confer disease protection to some individuals. The company first identifies people who are more resilient to a given condition, and then sequences their immune B-cells (the cells responsible for making antibodies) to look for related antibodies that are common in that population but absent in people who are not resilient.
Antibodies seen as new treatments for ALS
Alchemab said it has hundreds of ALS samples. It will use samples from people with unusually slow disease progression to look for antibodies that may be conferring protection to patients, the idea being that these antibodies could serve as the basis for new treatments.
Alchemab’s platform uses data analysis, machine learning, and laboratory techniques to help understand how the immune system responds to disease. The goal is to use these findings to develop treatments that mimic the body’s natural mechanisms of immune response.
“Our novel, differentiated antibody discovery platform can lead to insights into how an individual’s immune response can generate potent, selective, and unique antibodies with therapeutic potential,” Osbourn said. “Guided by patients’ biological response to disease, Alchemab’s platform yields both novel targets and potential therapies in one process.”
About the Author
