Fresh off a licensing deal that gives Leyden Labs a key building block for a medication that provides broad protection against influenza, the biotech unveiled $140 million to advance that product candidate and others in development as nasal spray formulations intended to stop respiratory pathogens at their point of entry.
Casdin Capital and GV, both of which previously invested in the biotech, led the Series B financing. The announcement of the new capital Tuesday comes one week after Leyden Labs licensed an antibody from Janssen designed to neutralize both influenza A and B, the two influenza types that cause seasonal flu.
Pandemic influenza is associated with influenza A, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A medicine that addresses both influenza A and B could be considered universal. The deal with Janssen gives Leyden Labs global rights to the antibody for mucosal administration. The biotech paid an undisclosed amount up front and would owe Janssen milestone payments tied to the antibody’s progress, plus royalties if it reaches the market. In Tuesday’s funding announcement, Leyden Labs said that the influenza product candidate is “rapidly moving toward clinical trials,” though the biotech provided no timeline.
Leyden Labs, which maintains operations in Boston and Amsterdam, formed during the early days of the pandemic. The biotech startup was the brainchild of scientists who previously led the development of the vaccine technology used in Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 shot. CEO Koenraad Wiedhaup told MedCity News last year that the idea behind Leyden Labs was develop medicines that prevent viral spread ahead of time, offering another tool that fills a gap left by vaccines. While a vaccine takes time to take effect, a Leyden Labs medicine would work immediately. Alsoa, a nasal spray is a formulation that is easy for people to administer themselves and developing a product that works in the nose and throat, these medicines “stop viruses where they attack us,” Wiedhaup said.
Leyden Labs aims to offer broad protection against viruses by hitting targets shared in common across families of viruses, including coronaviruses. The company has not disclosed details about how its medicines work other than to say that they are designed to stop a virus from entering a cell. The antibody licensed from Janssen, CR9114, will become part of a medicine called PanFlu. Leyden Labs says its platform technology also supports the development of new nasal sprays that protect against coronaviruses and other respiratory diseases.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
The Series B financing brings Leyden Labs’ total financing since its founding to $200 million. Other investors in the latest round of funding include SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Invus, and Bluebird Ventures, as well as earlier investors F-Prime Capital and Byers Capital/Brook Byers.
