athwal

Dr. Dee Athwal, PhD

Partner

Named inventor on patents underpinning approximately 90% of all currently approved therapeutic antibodies. Founder of seven biotech companies. Three decades from bench to billion-dollar exit.

Dee is a Partner at Bio-nAbler and one of the foundational figures in the modern therapeutic antibody industry. A biophysicist by training, he is the named inventor on patents underpinning approximately 90% of currently approved therapeutic antibodies — including Cimzia™, UCB's blockbuster anti-TNF — and on technology underlying the world's first approved antibody-drug conjugate (Mylotarg™). Over a three-decade executive career, Dee has founded or co-founded seven biotechnology companies across oncology, autoimmune disease, inflammation and CNS, with hands-on expertise spanning multiple antibody formats, ATMPs, peptide therapeutics, and nanoparticle-based delivery.

From 2022 to 2025, Dee served as Chief Strategy Officer for Biologics at Kelix Bio (Dubai), where he led the biologics growth strategy that included the acquisition of Julphar's DiabTec — the GCC's largest GMP insulin manufacturing facility at 20,000 litres — and the partnership architecture that positioned the company for its acquisition by Mubadala in 2024.

Prior to Kelix, Dee was Founding CEO and Director of Complement Therapeutics Limited (CTx), a spin-out from the University of Manchester, where he secured a €5M seed followed by a €90M Series A and built a multi-modality pipeline anchored by a differentiated AAV gene therapy for Geographic Atrophy. He has also served as Chief Business and Strategy Officer at Capella Bioscience (acquired by Centessa Pharmaceuticals) and at Aragen Bioscience (acquired by GVK Bio); and as Founder and COO of Fourteen22 Inc., taking a biosimilar from concept through Phase 1 and registrational studies to commercial sale in Asia. At C2N Diagnostics, he led the development and partnership of a murine antibody for Alzheimer's disease, ultimately closing a US$1Bn+ aggregate-value transaction with AbbVie.

Dee serves as Chief Executive Officer and Board member of Drishti Discoveries; as a Member of the Inflexion Healthcare Advisory Board, a private equity fund with portfolio reach across 160+ countries; and as commercialization advisor to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the Francis Crick Institute. He has supported GHO Capital on transactions including Fair Journey Biologics, the acquisition of Iontas, Roslin CT and the sale of BioAgilytix, and advises UK, EU and US venture firms on early-stage investments in devices, platforms and therapeutic programs.

Dee holds a Joint Honours BSc in Physics and Cell Molecular Biology from King's College London and a PhD from Celltech and Birkbeck College in protein engineering and drug design under Sir Tom Blundell FRS — as Celltech's first ever PhD student. He was shortlisted to become the first British astronaut on the joint British–Soviet Project Juno space mission.