Landos aims for $100m IPO

Landos Biopharma, a US-based autoimmune disease therapeutics developer exploiting Virginia Tech research, has filed for a $100m initial public offering.
Founded in 2017, the spinout has been working on a small molecule-based drug called BT-11 to treat autoimmune and inflammatory problems associated with two forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD): Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Earlier this month, an orally-administered form of the drug demonstrated positive effects in a 12-week phase 2 trial with patients suffering mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis.
IBD symptoms were resolved or mostly alleviated in up to 11.5% of the trial’s participants, Landos said, and the drug was shown to be safe with tolerable side-effects.
A phase 3 trial is expected to follow in the first half of this year, along with a phase 2 trial indicated for Crohn’s disease.
Landos is also working toward initial in-human studies of BT-11 to establish whether the drug could treat eosinophilic esophagitis, a form of chronic digestive disorder, as well as the skin complications psoriasis and atopic dermatitis.
It also has a second IBD candidate, NX-13, undergoing phase 1 testing. The purpose of the IPO proceeds is still to be stipulated.
BT-11 triggers a genetically-encoded protein, Lanthionine Synthetase C-Like protein 2 (LANCL2), to stall production of IBD-provoking inflammatory cytokines and create an anti-inflammatory response to shield the body from autoimmune attacks.
The protein was first validated in IBD by Landos’s chief scientific officer Raquel Hontecillas-Magarzo, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech and lead for mucosal immunology research at its Biocomplexity Institute.
The founding team also includes Josep Bassaganya-Riera, director of the institute’s nutritional immunology and molecular medicine laboratory.
Landos closed a $60m series B round co-led by RTW Investments and Perceptive Advisors in August 2019 with participation from spinout-focused investment firm Osage University Partners, venture capital firm PBM Capital and undisclosed new investors.
Perceptive Advisors took part through its Xontogeny Venture and Life Sciences funds, having previously supplied Landos with $10m in series A funding in 2017.
The hedge fund sponsor is Landos’s largest stockholder ahead of the IPO holding a 40.1% stake, with another 9.3% held through Xontogeny. Bassaganya-Riera owns a 28.6% stake, followed by RTW Investments (11%) and Osage University Partners (5.8%).
JP Morgan Securities, Jefferies and SVB Leerink are acting as joint book-running managers, while Raymond James and Associates is also serving as underwriter for the proposed offering, due to take place on the Nasdaq Global Market.