Leyden Labs secures €20m from European Investment Bank: Could this reshape Europe’s pandemic response strategy?

Dutch clinical-stage biotechnology company Leyden Laboratories B.V., headquartered in Leiden and backed by global investors such as GV and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, has received a €20 million financing commitment from the European Investment Bank (EIB). Announced on June 3, 2025, the funding will accelerate clinical development of Leyden Labs’ intranasal antibody therapies aimed at combating both seasonal influenza and emerging pandemic respiratory viruses. This investment is channelled through HERA Invest, a specialized facility within the European Commission’s InvestEU programme, which focuses on biodefense, health emergency preparedness, and antimicrobial resistance.

The financing marks a significant policy-backed endorsement of Leyden Labs’ non-vaccine approach to viral prevention. The company’s lead candidate, PanFlu, is an antibody-based nasal spray designed to deliver broad protection against entire families of influenza viruses, including zoonotic variants such as avian influenza (H5). Unlike traditional injectable vaccines, PanFlu targets the respiratory mucosa—the site of viral entry—by providing immediate passive immunity. This platform could serve as a rapid-response alternative in the early stages of an outbreak when systemic immunity is too slow or ineffective for vulnerable populations.

What Is PanFlu and How Does It Work Differently From Conventional Vaccines?

PanFlu, currently in clinical development, leverages CR9114, a monoclonal antibody originally discovered by Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ). CR9114 binds to conserved regions of the influenza virus, maintaining efficacy across diverse and mutating strains. Leyden Labs holds an exclusive license to develop and commercialize this asset, which it integrates into a proprietary Mucosal Protection Platform.

The therapeutic is administered via an intranasal spray, allowing the antibodies to coat the upper respiratory tract—the primary pathway for airborne viruses like influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and RSV. This strategy circumvents the reliance on a host-generated immune response and is therefore potentially safer and more effective in immunocompromised individuals. In contrast, traditional vaccines typically require weeks to activate systemic immune defenses and may lose effectiveness as viruses evolve. PanFlu’s passive immunity model enables instant protection and has strong potential for deployment in high-density environments such as airports, eldercare homes, and schools.

Why Did the EIB Choose Leyden Labs for the HERA Invest Facility?

The EIB’s €20 million investment falls under HERA Invest, a €110 million top-up facility within the broader InvestEU programme. HERA Invest, established by the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), supports startups and scaleups working on countermeasures against pandemic pathogens, biothreats, and antimicrobial resistance. HERA was created by the European Commission in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis as a permanent institutional mechanism to secure medical preparedness across EU member states.

In selecting Leyden Labs, HERA and the EIB identified the company as strategically important to Europe’s biodefense capabilities. EIB Vice President Robert de Groot remarked that the investment represents a commitment to strengthening EU-based life sciences firms whose technologies have the potential to transform public health responses. He emphasized that innovations like Leyden Labs’ intranasal antibody therapies are not only timely but necessary for building sovereign manufacturing and deployment capacity within the EU.

How Does This Investment Fit Within Broader Trends in EU Biotech Policy?

The decision to fund Leyden Labs aligns with a post-pandemic shift in EU industrial and public health policy. Europe has committed to reducing dependence on U.S.-led vaccine pipelines and aims to accelerate the onshoring of high-impact biotechnologies. The InvestEU programme—which offers an EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion—has set a target of mobilizing at least €372 billion in public and private investment across strategic sectors. Healthcare and pandemic preparedness have moved to the top of that list.

By supporting Leyden Labs, the EU is attempting to diversify its health countermeasure portfolio to include platforms that are rapid to deploy, mutation-resilient, and suitable for decentralized distribution. This complements other InvestEU health-backed initiatives around diagnostics, manufacturing infrastructure, and clinical data sharing. For the Netherlands in particular, the deal reinforces its growing status as a biotech innovation hub. According to EIB data, over the last decade, more than €27 billion has been invested in Dutch projects, including over €3 billion in 2024 alone, spanning mobility, health, water, and R&D.

Who Are the Key Investors Behind Leyden Labs and What Does Their Support Signify?

Founded in 2020, Leyden Labs has attracted a strong roster of global venture capital firms. These include GV (formerly Google Ventures), SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Casdin Capital, F-Prime Capital, ClavystBio (Temasek), Polaris Partners, Qiming Venture Partners, Invus, Bluebird Ventures, and Byers Capital. Their collective backing has helped the company scale R&D efforts around its Mucosal Protection Platform and expand into respiratory indications beyond influenza, including coronaviruses and RSV.

The addition of EIB as a venture debt financier provides not just capital but institutional validation. Analysts view this as a signal that Leyden Labs is likely to attract follow-on capital from both public and private sources, particularly if clinical trials progress toward regulatory milestones. The company’s positioning within a sovereign health security programme also opens the door to Advance Market Commitments (AMCs) and other public sector procurement schemes increasingly being considered for outbreak defense.

What Are the Market and Strategic Implications for Leyden Labs?

Although privately held, Leyden Labs is emerging as a model of how biotech companies can combine scientific innovation with public health mission alignment. Its technology platform addresses several urgent market needs: ease of administration, resistance to viral mutation, and utility in both emergency and seasonal use cases. Intranasal therapeutics as a category are projected to grow at over 7% CAGR through 2030, supported by advances in biologic formulation and a global shift toward non-invasive, rapid-action delivery systems.

Use cases extend far beyond hospitals and clinics. Experts highlight strong deployment potential in transit hubs, refugee camps, military bases, and educational institutions. The speed and flexibility of intranasal antibody protection could help bridge the vulnerability window between an outbreak’s onset and the rollout of population-wide vaccines. This is particularly critical in scenarios where cold-chain logistics are strained or where rapid deployment is essential.

CEO Koenraad Wiedhaup has reiterated the company’s focus on building a pandemic-proof toolkit that supports long-term preparedness. In his view, the support from the EIB and HERA reflects growing awareness among policymakers that pandemic readiness must go beyond vaccine stockpiles to include platform-based technologies capable of immediate activation during crises.

Could Leyden Labs Emerge as a Pillar in the EU’s Biodefense Architecture?

From a strategic standpoint, the answer appears to be yes. The company fits squarely into the EU’s emerging biosecurity playbook, which emphasizes pre-crisis development of medical countermeasures, scalable infrastructure, and rapid-response tools. While traditional vaccine manufacturers remain central to this framework, the EU is clearly widening its aperture to include biotech innovators like Leyden Labs, whose platforms are disruptive, defensible, and dual-use.

The broader institutional sentiment is shifting toward technologies that deliver resilience, not just treatment. As such, Leyden Labs’ inclusion in the HERA Invest portfolio positions it not merely as a grant recipient, but as a potential cornerstone of Europe’s next-generation health emergency response strategy.