Athernal Bio secures £700k from Innovate UK and Delin Ventures
This article covers Athernal Bio, a UK biotech startup, securing a £700k grant from Innovate UK's Growth Catalyst - Investor Partnerships programme to accelerate preclinical work on an immunotherapy targeting high-risk acute myeloid leukaemia. The funding will support preclinical validation studies and collaborations with UK research groups as the startup advances its lead programme towards clinical development to intercept clonal haematopoiesis and prevent progression to acute myeloid leukaemia.
Athernal Bio, a UK biotech startup, has secured a grant funding round of nearly £700,000 from Innovate UK's Growth Catalyst - Investor Partnerships programme to accelerate preclinical work on an immunotherapy aimed at intercepting high-risk acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) before cancer develops. The non-dilutive award, alongside continued backing from Delin Ventures, will fund validation studies and collaborations with UK research groups as the company pushes its lead programme towards the clinic.
Why it matters
Acute myeloid leukaemia is an aggressive blood cancer with poor outcomes when diagnosed late. Advances in molecular diagnostics now allow clinicians to identify high-risk clonal haematopoiesis (CH), a precursor that can appear years before AML, but there are currently no approved therapies to intervene at this stage. Athernal’s work targets that unmet need: preventing malignant transformation rather than treating established disease. That shift from reaction to prevention is a meaningful change for patients, and it is attracting public and private support in the UK research ecosystem.
Inside the product
Athernal is developing targeted immunotherapies designed to eliminate high-risk CH cells before they progress to AML. The company’s initial programme focuses on patients with inherited rare blood disorders, a group linked to the most aggressive and rapidly advancing forms of CH. The Innovate UK grant will support preclinical studies needed to validate the lead candidate and prepare for clinical development, carried out in collaboration with leading UK academic and research groups.
The company has also been part of Accelerate@Babraham at Babraham Research Campus and the Cancer Tech Accelerator, Cancer Research UK’s programme run through Cancer Research Horizons, both of which provide lab access, advisory support and translational expertise relevant to early-stage biotech development.
Who are the investors?
The award comes from Innovate UK’s Growth Catalyst - Investor Partnerships programme, which provides non-dilutive grant funding that is paired with aligned private investment. Since 2017 the programme has awarded around £168 million to more than 400 UK SMEs and helped catalyse over £448 million of private investment.
Athernal will continue to receive support from Delin Ventures, an early-stage life sciences investor based in London that focuses on cell therapy and cancer interception among other areas. Delin’s continued backing signals private investor confidence alongside the public grant.
In the announcement, Jonathan Hay, Partner at Delin Ventures, said:
Cancer interception has the potential to transform oncology by shifting treatment from reacting to disease to preventing it.
Athernal is helping to lead that transition and Innovate UK's support is an important validation of both the company and the field. We are proud to continue backing the team as they move towards clinical development.
If you're researching potential backers in this space:
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Founder perspective
In the announcement, Dr Caroline Haegeman, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer at Athernal Bio, said:
Patients at the highest risk of developing leukaemia currently have no therapeutic options to alter the course of their disease.
This award is a strong endorsement of both our science and our vision. Together with the continued support of Delin Ventures, it enables us to advance our lead programme towards the clinic and brings us another important step closer to delivering the first therapeutic approach designed to intercept these aggressive cancers before they develop. We welcome Innovate UK as a partner on this journey.
Athernal describes a team supported by advisors across the US and Europe, signalling its intention to move quickly from preclinical validation to first-in-human studies.
The bigger picture
The grant to Athernal sits within a broader shift in oncology research toward earlier detection and intervention. Cancer interception — treating precursor conditions to stop cancer before it emerges — is still nascent but is gaining momentum as diagnostics improve and funding mechanisms evolve to support translational work.
Public instruments such as Innovate UK’s Investor Partnerships are increasingly being used to de-risk early-stage biotech and attract follow-on private capital. For UK biotech startups working on translational immunotherapies and rare-disease niches, that combination of non-dilutive funding, research infrastructure and investor partnerships can be decisive.
This development underscores continuing investment activity in UK and European biotech, where collaborations between public agencies, research centres and specialist investors are helping to move preventive oncology concepts closer to clinical reality.
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