Business Model in Practice: Product Company


Koenraad Wiedhaup | CEO, Leyden Labs

Koenraad Wiedhaup, founder and CEO of Leyden Labs is committed to helping people strive for a fantastic life by bringing scientific developments to those who need them. He has worked with biopharmaceutical and life science companies as a partner at McKinsey & Company. Together with executive leadership, he developed business and commercial strategies, including launching products and M&A. Prior to McKinsey, Koenraad worked in business development of a San Francisco based biotech company. He has an background in Life Sciences at the Delft and Leiden Universities and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School in New York.



Leyden Labs

We all harbor and spread respiratory viruses. Moreover, we are often in the dark when initial infection and transmission occurs. This is something we have seen in recent years: for influenza, RSV and coronaviruses, we have a very real problem of severe disease and asymptomatic spread.

This is why at Leyden Labs, we want to stop infections early on, at the very gate through which they enter. In the case of respiratory viruses: the nasal mucosa. We have developed an Mucosal Immunity technology platform, through which we can engineer molecules that are effective in the nasal mucosa. 

Our company is developing nasal sprays containing antibodies that target respiratory viruses in the nasal mucosa. These sprays aim to:
• Fight the initial infection at the gate: which can prevent onward transmission.
• Protect broadly against existing and new viruses.
• Provide universal protection, regardless of an individual’s immune history or comorbidities.

With our products, we fight viruses where they fight us, to prepare us for future endemic and pandemic threats. We have a pipeline of clinical and pre-clinical candidates for influenza and corona viruses.

The company’s founders are biotechnology veterans who founded and built vaccine pioneer Crucell. Leyden Labs has raised $200M from investors including GV, Casdin Capital, F-Prime, SoftBank, and Byers Capital/Brook Byers. 

Building Biotech from the Ground Up: From Scientific Idea to Real-World Impact

Leyden Labs is a biotech company developing nasal spray-based antibody therapies that target respiratory viruses at the point of entry in the nasal mucosa. By focusing on the earliest stage of infection, the company aims to prevent disease and transmission of influenza, RSV, and coronaviruses and contribute to a new approach in respiratory protection. Founded by biotechnology veterans, Leyden Labs has raised $200M to advance its mission in respiratory disease prevention.

In this closing keynote, Koenraad Wiedhaup (CEO of Leyden Labs) will go beyond the business model and share what it takes to build a biotech company from the ground up, how scientific ideas are turned into real products, what it takes to scale in a tough and fast-moving industry, and how to keep a clear focus on long-term impact in drug development.

It’s not every day you get to learn from biotech leaders shaping the future of respiratory disease prevention.

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