ALP Bio receives funding of 1.75 million francs

(CONNECT) ALP Bio AG has raised 1.75 million Swiss francs in a pre-seed financing round. The round was led by the Munich-based venture capital company 42CAP. Start-up promoter Venture Kick - based in Schlieren like ALP Bio - and several business angels have also participated.

According to a statement from the start-up, which was founded in January 2026, the funds will be used to accelerate the development of its platform. It combines the biology of human immune organoids with generative artificial intelligence (AI) to help antibody developers identify, understand and reduce immunogenicity risk early in the drug development process.

According to ALP Bio, immunogenicity, i.e. the risk of immune reactions including the formation of antibodies against the drug, is one of the greatest risks in the development of biologics. This can force teams to cancel or revise programs in late stages of development when a lot of time and capital has already been invested. This is often only the case in clinical trials, when the costs for corrections are at their highest.

"Immunogenicity is one of the biggest hidden cost factors for biologics," ALP CEO Dr. Christian Vahlensieck is quoted as saying. "The industry has accepted surprises in late development phases as the norm for far too long. We are convinced that this risk should be assessed and reduced years earlier than in the past."

According to 42CAP partner Thomas Wilke, ALP Bio overcomes a crucial bottleneck. Immunogenicity has hindered development for decades. "The combination of immune organoid biology and AI at the sequence level is the most promising approach we have seen so far to get to the root of this problem." ce/mm