Alethio Therapeutics (Alethio), an Abingdon-on-Thames-based biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation therapies for myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), has announced the completion of an oversubscribed €80.46 million ($90 million/£67 million) Series A financing.
The round was co-led by new investors Sofinnova Partners and RA Capital, alongside founding investor Oxford Science Enterprises, with additional support from Cancer Research Horizons and the University of Oxford. As part of the financing, Graziano Seghezzi, Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners, and Maxwell DeNies of RA Capital have joined Alethio’s Board of Directors.
“The most transformative companies are built around insights that challenge long-held assumptions in medicine. In MPNs, the field has long accepted that controlling the disease is enough. Alethio challenges that assumption. By targeting the cells that drive the disease, its approach has the potential to move patients beyond symptom management toward true disease modification. All of this is based on an exceptional team and founders with a deep understanding of the disease,” said Graziano Seghezzi, Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners.
Alethio was founded in 2021 as a spin-out from the University of Oxford by Professors Adam Mead and Beth Psaila, two globally recognised physician-scientists in MPNs. Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), including essential thrombocythaemia (ET), are blood cancers characterised by the uncontrolled production of blood cells and an increased risk of thrombosis, bone marrow scarring (myelofibrosis), and transformation to acute leukaemia, the UK startup explained.
“Alethio Therapeutics was born from years of research at the University of Oxford and from our direct experience treating patients with MPNs. We founded the company to ensure that deep human disease insight and rigorous science translate into medicines that can alter disease progression, not just manage its symptoms. Our aim is to offer patients real hope — helping them live longer, healthier lives,” co-founders Mead and Psaila mentioned on the website.
According to the company, current therapies for ET are non-targeted treatments that have been around for decades, such as hydroxycarbamide and interferon, that can affect, and disproportionately damage, healthy cells.
Alethio claims to be pursuing a different approach, developing targeted therapies designed to selectively eliminate the disease-driving cells that sustain MPNs. The company notes that this approach modifies the underlying disease features, restores healthy blood counts, reduces thrombotic risk, and ultimately improves patient outcomes.
“Too often, a patient’s first encounter with ET is a thrombotic event that lands them in the emergency room. What follows is typically lifelong treatment with therapies that can cause burdensome side effects and are associated with high rates of resistance. Alethio was founded on a simple conviction – if you can selectively eliminate the cells driving disease, you can redefine what is possible for patients. This financing enables us to turn that conviction into reality,” said Dr. Rohit Batta, Chief Executive Officer of Alethio Therapeutics.
Alethio’s lead programme, ATX-011, is a first-in-class monoclonal antibody that targets G6B, designed to treat essential thrombocythaemia. G6B is a novel target in MPN, uniquely expressed on MPN-initiating stem cells but not on healthy stem cells. It is also expressed on megakaryocytes and platelets — the cells that drive thrombosis and transformation to myelofibrosis.
The UK startup highlighted that these findings support ATX-011’s potential to deliver broad therapeutic benefit across patients with MPNs, regardless of driver mutation. Alethio is advancing ATX-011 through IND-enabling studies and toward clinical development in ET.
It also reported that preclinical data for ATX-011 has been selected for oral presentation at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2026 Annual Meeting.
The company has also built ARTEMIS (Advanced Research & Translational Engine for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms), which is an integrated discovery and development engine for MPNs. Alethio says ARTEMIS is designed to systematically identify, validate, and de-risk novel mutant drivers of disease and therapeutic candidates against these targets.
Powered by ARTEMIS, Alethio is building a pipeline of novel biologic disease-modifying therapies for MPNs. Alongside ATX-011, it is also developing a programme targeting mutant calreticulin (CALR)–driven disease, which occurs in roughly 30% of patients with MPNs.
“Since its formation, Alethio has made incredible progress in translating pioneering University of Oxford science into a focused and ambitious biotechnology company. The team has built not only a promising lead programme but also the ARTEMIS discovery platform, providing a powerful engine for future pipeline innovation. We are proud to continue supporting the company and are delighted to welcome such an experienced syndicate to help Alethio transition to the next stage of growth; delivering meaningful impact for patients in the clinic,” said Sally Dewhurst, Principal at Oxford Science Enterprises.
The company plans to use this capital to transition into a clinical-stage company, deploying capital to advance its lead programme, ATX-011, through completion of Phase 1/2a studies in essential thrombocythaemia (ET) and to Phase 3 readiness, while also progressing additional MPN programmes toward IND submission.
Source: EU-Startups
