Januray 25, 2022
Leyden Labs Raises $200M in 2021 for a New Approach to Combat Viruses
--$140M Series B financing led by Casdin Capital and GV (formerly Google Ventures) with participation from leading global life science investors --
-- Proceeds accelerate development of products against a broad range of respiratory viruses through mucosal protection—
--Supported by world class team experienced in breakthrough innovations for infectious diseases--
AMSTERDAM and BOSTON – January 25, 2022 – Leyden Laboratories B.V., (the "Company" or "Leyden Labs") today announced closing a $140M Series B financing, bringing its total capital raised to approximately $200M in 2021. Series A investors Casdin Capital and GV (formerly Google Ventures) led the round that included incoming investors SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Invus, and Bluebird Ventures, and existing Series A investors F-Prime Capital and Byers Capital/Brook Byers. This international syndicate will support Leyden Labs’ mission to free people from the burden of respiratory viruses. The Board will expand to include Eli Casdin of Casdin Capital as a new member. Vali Barsan of Softbank Investment Advisers, Jeff Bird of Bluebird Ventures, and Suzanne Jung Angell of Casdin Capital join the Board as observers.
The proceeds from the financing will support the development of Leyden Labs’ platform, product portfolio, and team. Leyden Labs’ platform is built on two innovative concepts: broad protection against known viruses, new variants and newly emerging viruses, and protection at the gate, in the mucosa (e.g. in the nose and throat). Leyden Labs has a pipeline of mucosal protection products, including PanFlu which uses CR9114, the only human monoclonal influenza antibody that protects against influenza A and B, in-licensed from Janssen Pharmaceuticals. The platform will also support development of novel broad-protection nasal sprays for coronavirus family and other respiratory diseases.
“This fundraising underscores our investors’ belief that Leyden Labs’ platform can generate cornerstone products to combat respiratory diseases. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic teaches us we need to expand our arsenal of tools to fight current and future viral outbreaks.” said Koenraad Wiedhaup, a founder and CEO of Leyden Labs. “We are very excited to be working with this team of renowned infectious disease scientists and biotechnology leaders to accelerate advancing our platform and product candidates.”
Eli Casdin, Chief Investment Officer and Founder at Casdin Capital, stated, “Our approach is to uncover the best technologies and enable high-quality management teams to solve some of the world’s biggest problems and Leyden Labs is a clear fit. With their technology platform we look forward to doing our part to support the development of their pipeline of next generation, broad-protection, on-demand products against infectious disease.”
Leyden Labs consists of a world-class, seasoned team with decades of experience in research, development, manufacturing, and product launches in infectious diseases. Industry veterans from Crucell and other Leyden Labs’ founders, Jaap Goudsmit (CSO), Ronald Brus (CBO) and Dinko Valerio (Chair of Supervisory Board) are teaming up with executives and scientific leaders from equally innovating biotech powerhouses like VIR, Harvard and MIT. Recently, Suha Jhaveri joined as CCO and Head of Business Development. Ms. Jhaveri has held multiple product development, BD, and strategic roles at Genentech, Chiron, and most recently, at VIR, where she launched sotrovimab, a monoclonal antibody treatment against COVID-19.
David Schenkein, General Partner from GV (formerly Google Ventures) added, “Leyden Labs is led by a highly accomplished team of world-class scientists and experienced product development leaders. They are capable of achieving the unthinkable: they can imagine what is possible for humanity, and take steps to create a portfolio of products that have the potential for enormous impact on patients’ lives.”
About Pan-influenza (PanFlu)
Leyden Lab’s PanFlu intranasal spray is in development to provide prophylactic protection against influenza A and B, offering broad protection against seasonal epidemics and potential future pandemics. PanFlu delivers a universal antibody, CR9114, which neutralizes many influenza strains. PanFlu is rapidly moving toward clinical trials.
About Leyden Laboratories B.V.
Leyden Labs aims to help people live their lives to the fullest. Its platform targets commonalities of viral families to protect humanity from known and future viruses. Its portfolio of accessible intranasal product candidates may provide people with the freedom to immediately protect themselves from and prevent the spread of many strains of respiratory viruses, including ones in the influenza and coronavirus families. The Company, founded in June 2020, has built an energetic team of world-renowned biotechnology veterans and fresh talent and is backed with $200M by blue chip investors Casdin Capital, GV (formerly Google Ventures), F-Prime Capital, Byers Capital/Brook Byers, SoftBank Investment Advisers, Invus and Bluebird Ventures. To learn more, visit www.leydenlabs.com.
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Corporate Contact:
Leyden Laboratories B.V.
Media Contact:
Elizabeth Miller, M.D.
LifeSci Communications
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