Senior scientists Jorge Dias and Sebastian Schaetzle moved into the BioEscalator in December 2019, shortly after Alchemab was incorporated.
Benefitting from the BioEscalator’s shared laboratory facilities and nurturing environment they were quickly able to establish the company’s novel technology with the additional benefit of being located close to collaborators at the University of Oxford’s Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics. In parallel, the company also established a base at the Babraham Research Campus in Cambridge, UK, which is where it is now fully located.
The BioEscalator has remained open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing Alchemab scientists to continue their ground-breaking research to benefit patients suffering from hard-to-treat diseases. The company’s technology is based on mining antibody repertoires of individuals who are resistant to or recovered from the disease and is being used for the development of therapeutic products for patients who lack this protective response. The uninterrupted access to high-quality facilities also enabled the company to collaborate on a project to understand patients’ immune responses to SARS-CoV-2, which it completed successfully during the pandemic.
During its time at the BioEscalator, Alchemab has enjoyed many achievements, not least raising £60M in a Series A funding round - the largest European Series A round in 2021 and in the top 10 for the largest Series A rounds in Europe - and winning the OBN Awards 2020 Best Biotech Start-up Company.
Being at the BioEscalator has been a key part of Alchemab's journey and provided us with the support and capabilities we needed to enable our growth.
Alex Leech, CEO