LEAH Labs, a Y Combinator-backed companion animal cell therapy company aimed at curing cancer in dogs, has been awarded a $225,000 National Science Foundation Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant (NSF SBIR).
LEAH Labs’ first product is aimed at disrupting the estimated $500 million yearly spend on the standard of care for B cell lymphoma in dogs in the USA alone.
“Winning this NSF SBIR accelerates our goals of transforming companion animal healthcare with cell therapies,” said Dr. Wes Wierson, co-founder and CEO of LEAH Labs. “First, we will optimize our platform gene-editing technology for scalable engineering of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T (CAR-T) cells, making this breakthrough treatment an affordable option to veterinarians and their clients. We will then demonstrate the in vivo safety of our product in model dogs. Accomplishing these two aims during Phase I will lay the groundwork for our platform technology and commercialization of our first canine cancer therapeutic product.”
The addition of the NSF SBIR Grant adds to LEAH Labs growing list of funding sources that include Y Combinator, Ag Startup Engine, FIN Capital and angel investors.
“We’re thrilled to get to work on our Phase I studies that will lead to a $1.5M Phase II grant submission next year,” said Wierson.
The NSF SBIR program considers itself “America’s Seed Fund” and invests up to $1.75M in companies developing deep technology while considering the impact of the innovation, both in commercial potential and societal impact.
Previous coverage
Nebullam and LEAH Laboratories selected into Y Combinator -March 19, 2019
Leah Laboratories receives seed investment from Ag Startup Engine -Jan. 16, 2019
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