WhiteLab Genomics has raised $26 million in Series B financing to scale its ALFRED AI platform across multiple delivery technologies and programmable genetic payloads.
WhiteLab Genomics has raised $26 million in a Series B financing round to accelerate the development of AI-designed genomic medicines and expand its activities across international markets.
The TechBio company, which uses artificial intelligence to design genomic medicines, said the round was led by AVP with participation from new investors Yaday Health and Blast Club alongside existing backers Omnes and Debiopharm.
The funding will support in vivo validation programmes spanning viral and non-viral delivery technologies and programmable genetic payloads. WhiteLab also plans to expand commercially across North America, Europe and Asia as it works to develop a portfolio of experimentally validated bio-assets that can be advanced independently or with biopharmaceutical partners.
Tackling genomic medicine’s delivery challenge
A central focus of WhiteLab’s work is improving how genomic medicines are delivered to specific cells in the body. The company has already demonstrated its technology in the brain, where the blood-brain barrier presents a major obstacle to drug delivery.
Working with the Paris Brain Institute, WhiteLab used its artificial intelligence platform, ALFRED (AI-Led Framework for Rational Exploration in Drug Design), to design novel adeno-associated viruses (AAVs). These viral vectors are widely used to deliver genetic medicines.
In in vivo studies, the company’s AI-designed candidates crossed the blood-brain barrier while showing a strong brain-to-liver targeting ratio and no detectable liver signal. More precise delivery to the central nervous system could potentially support the development of treatments for neurological conditions including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, rare genetic disorders and brain cancers such as glioblastoma.
The candidates also showed high sequence novelty, which WhiteLab said could support differentiated intellectual property and freedom to operate while incorporating properties intended to support manufacturing and future scale-up.
AI can help us design better genomic medicines, but what ultimately matters is whether those designs work in living systems. We have already presented compelling results and this financing allows us to scale that work across multiple delivery technologies and payloads, build a portfolio of validated bio-assets and bring them to biopharma partners around the world.”
David Del Bourgo, Co-Founder & CEO, WhiteLab Genomics
Expanding beyond AAVs
WhiteLab is now applying ALFRED beyond AAVs to non-viral delivery technologies such as lipid nanoparticles and programmable genetic payloads, including synthetic promoters designed to control where and when therapeutic genes are expressed.
The company said combining these capabilities could allow it to design multiple components of a genomic medicine rather than optimising delivery systems or payloads separately.
WhiteLab also plan to strengthen their Boston operations and expand on the US West Coast while pursuing opportunities in Japan and South Korea and continuing its European activities.
“WhiteLab is building AI that designs genomic medicines that actually work in vivo, not just on paper,” said François Robinet, Managing Partner of AVP. “AI is about to have a real, tangible impact on genomic medicine and to contribute meaningfully to the development of new therapies.The combination of computational design, experimental validation and the ability to translate those designs into differentiated bio-assets is what attracted us to the company. We are very excited to join the journey and support David and the team as they enter this next phase.”
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