𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲-𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 — 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘀.
When a patient's immune system attacks a therapeutic antibody instead of tolerating it, the drug stops working. Sometimes it creates safety problems. This reaction — called immunogenicity — is one of the most expensive surprises in pharmaceutical development. The catch: it usually only shows up in late-stage clinical trials, when hundreds of millions have already been spent.
Alp Bio AG set out to change when that signal arrives.
The Zurich-based biotech combines human immune organoid technology — essentially a miniaturised model of how the human immune system behaves, grown in the lab from real human tissue — with AI models that learn from those biological readouts. Together, they give antibody developers a way to screen for immunogenicity risk years earlier than is possible today, before the costly decisions have already been made. The goal is to turn a late-stage surprise into an early design input.
Founded by Christian Vahlensieck, Lucas Schaus, PhD, Anatol Ehrlich and Punit Mehra, Alp Bio AG has now raised USD 2.2 million in a pre-seed round led by Munich-based 42CAP, with participation from Venture Kick and a group of strategic angel investors. The capital will go towards scaling the organoid platform, launching early partner projects with pharma and biotech teams, and building out the team across Switzerland and the US.
Kellerhals Carrard advised Alp Bio AG on all legal aspects of this transaction.
The KC Core Team:
· Dario Silberschmidt (Partner, Corporate/VC)
· Luana Stämpfli (Partner, Corporate/VC)
· Lisa Schmid (Paralegal, Corporate/VC)
· Klara Sophie Weismann (Legal Advisor, Corporate/VC)
Congratulations to the entire Alp Bio AG team on this milestone! We are looking forward to witnessing your further journey.
