Alchemab Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company aiming to identify and develop naturally occurring therapeutic antibodies from resilient individuals, has entered a collaboration with Lilly to discover novel therapeutic candidates to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Alchemab’s technology platform uses patient samples from individuals with unusually slow rates of disease progression to identify antibodies associated with resilience. Alchemab believes these antibodies, which are not found in disease progressors, could present therapeutic opportunities.

Alchemab has acquired hundreds of ALS samples, and this collaboration will leverage Alchemab’s technology to identify antibodies associated with resilience in ALS patient samples and advance the most promising candidates.

Alchemab’s Chief Executive Officer, Jane Osbourn, commented: “ALS is a devastating disease and an area of significant unmet medical need. 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. We are looking forward to working together to discover and develop novel targets and therapies for ALS patients.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Alchemab will collaborate with Lilly to discover, develop and commercialize up to five novel therapeutics. Alchemab will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and is eligible to receive discovery, development and commercialization milestone payments, plus royalties.