Protecting now from what comes next

The outbreak of COVID-19 caught the world off guard and severely constrained people's ability to live their lives to the fullest. Responses have been non-personal and broad (such as social distancing) or focused medical approaches targeting specific strains (such as vaccines). And while these solutions are crucial and these vaccines were developed at unprecedented speed, all responses are reactive.

What the world needs is a proactive approach. Nature harbors millions of unknown viruses and with virus mutations in humans, new infections are a given. However, we don’t know which one will strike next. The current reactive approach does not prepare us for these future threats.

It’s time for a new approach.

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our new Approach

Leyden Labs’ proactive approach protects against a broad range of viruses

To protect from what comes next, we need to act proactively and be ready for a broad range of viruses. At Leyden Labs, we expand the armamentarium of available tools by developing our platform and products with three innovative concepts:

Targeting the commonalities of viruses

The millions of unknown viruses harbored in nature can be grouped in a few dozen of viral families. By targeting the commonalities of these families, we can develop protection against entire virus families at once, including the unknown variants. Our focus is on respiratory viruses like influenza and coronaviruses, which are most likely to cause pandemics because they are transmitted through the air.

Attacking viruses where they attack us

Through our platform, we are developing nasal sprays that provide immediate protection because they attack viruses where they attack us – in our nasal passages – keeping people safe from catching infections and preventing people from spreading them to others.

Providing protection independent of people’s immune system

Through our nasal sprays we deliver antibodies in the mucosa of the nasal passages that provide the user instant protection. It does not rely on the defense of a person’s own immune system and can therefore also effectively support population groups at risk, such as elderly and immunocompromised people.

Leyden Labs’ product candidates

We are working toward accessible, self-administrable products, so people can take control and live their lives to the fullest by protecting themselves against catching infections and preventing transmission to others. In January 2022, we announced that we have an exclusive license to develop and commercialize CR9114, a pan-influenza antibody protecting against influenza A and B. We are working hard to develop our PanFlu product candidate and advance it into the clinic.

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our team

We challenge limits

The city of Leiden (The Netherlands) inspired our name. For centuries, Leiden is known for unconventional thinking, the freedom to express this openly and scientific breakthroughs such as the first publications of Galileo’s famous Discorsi.

Our team of energetic, experienced and curious people is ready to go beyond to accomplish our mission. We strive for a fantastic life for all people. We aim for the highest, think unconventionally and focus relentlessly on delivering the impossible. In our team trust, integrity and inclusiveness are a given.

Our team

Meet our team and discover how they live their lives to the fullest.

Koenraad Wiedhaup

Founder and CEO

Jaap Goudsmit

Founder and Chief Scientific Officer

Ronald Brus

Founder and Chief Business Officer

Suha Jhaveri

CCO & Head of BD

Marieke van der Lans

Operations Director

Wouter Koudstaal

Senior Director and Head of Discovery

Galit Alter

Senior Director and Head of Platform Research

Bertjan Ziere

Senior Director and Head of Preclinical Development & CMC

Boris Juelg

Senior Director and Head of Early Clinical Development

Danielle Kool

Business Strategy Associate

Dennis de Vlaam

Associate Director Partnerships and Procurement

Anita van den Biggelaar

Strategic R&D Lead

Tom Razoux Schultz

Analytics lead

Fons Uytdehaag

Development Project Manager

Peter Rottier

Scientific Advisor

Vivian Bouwer

Office Manager

Esther Crena Uiterwijk

Talent Acquisition

Frans van den Boom

Pandemic Preparedness Consultant

Albert Jan van Soelen

General Counsel

Just Brakenhoff

Scientific Consultant

Peter Tjeerdsma

CMC Expert

Jaco Klap

Principal Statistician

Willemijn van Hövell

Talent Acquisition

Anna Beukenhorst

Strategic Lead & Academic Liaison

Babette de Jong

Jr Manager Preclinical

Marcella van Kraaij

IT Consultant

Martin Koldijk

Data Scientist

Jill Gilmour

Lab Consultant

Lotte van Alst

Business Controller

Felix Risco

Lab Manager Spain

Carolyn Boudreau

Platform Discovery Scientist

Femke Huijbers

Head of People

Eveline Zeeuw van der Laan

Research Planner

Stephanie Fischinger

Strategic Research Program Lead

Clarissa Masumi Koch

Strategic Lead

Willemijn Kremer

Head of Corporate Strategy

Lars von Oerthel

Lab Manager Leiden

Allison Bhattacharya

Laboratory Technologist

Javante Ishmael-Langham

Lab Manager Boston

Our Supervisory Board

Dinko Valerio

Founder and Executive Chair

John Martin - In memoriam

Former CEO Gilead Sciences

Onno van de Stolpe

CEO Galapagos

James Shannon

Former CMO GSK and Global Head of Development at Novartis

Richard Whitley

Professor in Pediatrics and Microbiology, Medicine and Neurosurgery at University of Alabama

David Schenkein

General Partner GV

Stephen Knight

President and Managing
Partner F-Prime Capital

Eli Casdin

Chief Investment Officer and Founder

Our investors

We are working together with a strong syndicate of investors and ambassadors. Our investors are GV (formerly Google Ventures), F-Prime Capital, Casdin Capital, Byers Capital / Brook Byers, Softbank Vision Fund 2, Invus and Bluebird Ventures.

our values

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Become part of our journey

At Leyden Labs, we want to free humanity from the burden of respiratory viruses to let people live life to the fullest. We are moving fast and growing quickly. Are you interested in contributing?